ESPN ropes in Shekhar Suman, Waqar for Asia Cup  ( July '1,2004, ET)

The Hindi bug has bitten ESPN Software India for good. Despite facing criticism for its Hindi coverage in Euro 2004 from the 'metro audience', ESPN has taken the bold step of not only hiring Shekhar Suman for its Hindi broadcast of Asia Cup Cricket tournament, but also is mooting the idea of turning STAR Sports into a full fledged Hindi sports channel.

It has also signed up former Pakistan Captain Waqar Younis to strengthen the Hindi commentary team.

"The first step was Euro 2004 and the Hindi commentary. Our ratings for the tournament from the Hindi heartland of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have scored over the ratings from Mumbai and Bangalore and that is very encouraging for us," said R C Venkateish, MD, ESPN India.

India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Hong Kong and the UAE are the six countries participating in the Asia Cup, which will be played between July 16 to August 2 in Sri Lanka.

Now ESPN has plans for simulcasting its coverage of Asia Cup, the worldwide rights of which were awarded to ESPN on June 16 of this month for an amount of Rs 55 to Rs 60 crore, reportedly. The Hindi commentary will, however, be limited to the last five matches.

Viewers will have the option of either enjoying the conventional English coverage with Harsha Bhogle, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Wasim Akram and Dean Jones or getting the feel of Hindi initiative on STAR Sports with Arun Lal, Maninder Singh, Vinod Kambli along with Waqar Younis.

Wasim Akram will comment both in English and Hindi. Shekhar Suman will moderate the show and act as a bridge between the audience and the commentators. "Instead of putting out one Hindi and one English commentary feed, we will have two separate productions of the same match -- and that is what will make it different," said Venkateish.

Indian Oil Corporation will be the title sponsor for Asia Cup. With this venture, Indian Oil is looking to brand its fuel services and service outlets. "We have decided to take the cricket route for building the Indian Oil brand as cricket is almost like a religion in the country," said Dr N G Kannan, Director, Marketing, for Indian Oil. There will be four more advertisers along with Indian Oil, the deals for which are in the process of being finalised.

The Hindi initiative of ESPN is being closely supervised under the watchful eyes of Raymond Hume, Director of Cricket and Indian production, ESPN Software India. "This is for the first time such an initiative has been undertaken anywhere in the world," exclaimed Hume. He is also responsible for hiring Waqar Younis for the Hindi commentary.

As for the Radio rights for the tournament, Venkateish said, "The rights are with us and we have undertaken an arrangement with All India Radio for the coverage." For the advertisers there would be a discount in advertising on only the Hindi telecast. "Advertisers will have the options of either using only ESPN or only STAR Sports or both the channels," added Sanjay Kailash, Director, Advertising for ESPN.

According to Venkateish, "Asia Cup is a big property, which is coming after a long gap, and with India and Pakistan playing each other the viewership is going to be huge. All the match timings are suited to the Indian viewer this time and of the 13 matches, 9 are day-and-night - making them prime-time items."