Everyday 8:30am on SonyESPN&SonyESPN HD
Background
IPL is the single
greatest sports event in India annually and is watched by the widest range of
television audiences. It has an equal mix of women and children, along with the
classical 15-34 aged male audience.
In our effort to
continuously build the ESPN brand in India, the IPL season is a great
opportunity to engage fans in a way that keeps them coming back for more.
ESPNcricinfo presents
‘The Friendly Toast’ – a daily show on Sony ESPN that provides fans with a sharp
reading of the game, making sense of the numbers
and honest analysis of the day’s play. All of this in a fun and
entertaining manner through the gamified interface of experts ‘owning’ teams
for the duration of the show.
The Objective
This show is focused on
connecting with the fans through the rich legacy and quality insights/analysis
that Cricinfo has always provided fans, now on television.
The Target Audience
Primarily the IPL
audience that is following the game day to day, looking for analysis of the
day’s play as a means to augment their cricket discussions.
The Main Message
Catch the best of IPL
analysis with a twist – the game within a game.
Full
name Ajit BhalchandraAgarkar
Born December
4, 1977, Bombay (now Mumbai), Maharashtra
Current
age 38 years 146 days
Major
teams India, Delhi
Daredevils, Kolkata Knight Riders, Middlesex, Mumbai
Playing
role Bowler
Batting
style Right-hand bat
Bowling
style Right-arm fast
Slight,
fiery and gifted, Ajit Agarkar never came to terms with being Kapil Dev's
replacement as India's match winner with bat and ball. The ingredients were
there, and in the right proportions, but never formed a heady and long-lasting
mix. Agarkar's entry into international cricket - with an avalanche of wickets
that made him the then fastest to 50 in ODIs - was matched for speed only by an
astonishing batting slump during which he collected seven consecutive Test
ducks against Australia. But he could bat, because tailenders simply do not
score half-centuries in 21 balls, as Agarkar did in a one-day game against
Zimbabwe, or score Test centuries at Lord's, as Agarkar did in some style in
2002. His aggression was an asset, but his body could not sometimes support it.
He turned into a one-day specialist - arguably India's most effective ODI
bowler in 2005-06 - but a disappointing World Cup campaign resulted in him
being dropped for the Bangladesh series that followed.
Agarkar was part of the ODI squad that toured
England in the summer of 2007, but his prospects of adding to his 191 ODI
appearances faded after he was dropped following the series defeat. Agarkar
remained a domestic force to be reckoned with, though, as his five-wicket haul
in one of the most thrilling Ranji Trophy finals in Mysore in January 2010
attested to. Agarkar claimed 5 for 81 as Karnataka, chasing a target of 338,
were bowled out for 331 in the post-lunch session of the fourth day's play. He
captained Mumbai in the 2012-13 season, leading them to their 40th Ranji Trophy
title. Just prior to the following season, Agarkar announced his retirement
from all cricket.
DaryllCullinan
Full name Daryll John Cullinan
Born
March 4, 1967,
Kimberley, Cape Province
Current
age 49 years 55 days
Major
teams South Africa,
Border, Derbyshire, Easterns, Gauteng, Kent, Titans, Transvaal, Western
Province
Batting
style Right-hand bat
Bowling
style Right-arm
offbreak
Less of an enigma than is sometimes claimed,
DaryllCullinan was the centrepiece of South Africa's batting from the early to
mid 1990s. He came out second best in his duels with Shane Warne, but although
much was made of the animosity between the two, a more sober assessment of
Cullinan suggests that his failures on two Australian tours were largely the
result of an almost desperate desire to prove himself against a cricketing
nation he holds in high regard. In other words, Cullinan tried just too hard to
succeed against Australia.
Against all other attacks in all kinds of conditions
he scored runs, as demonstrated by his century in the first Test against Sri
Lanka at Galle in 2000 when his hundred came against MuttiahMularitharan, the
world's best offspinner, operating on a turning track. In 1994, when South
Africa were decimated by Devon Malcolm and bowled out for
175, Cullinan made a graceful 94 and was the only South African not to lose his
wicket to Malcolm.
Cullinan tried to opt out of one-day cricket at the
end of the 2001 season, but the board, understandably, put pressure on him to
sign a new two-year contract. However, he retired from all international
cricket in 2002 under a cloud of dispute with the board. Recalled that season
to play Australia after recovering from a knee injury and a lack of form, he
suddenly withdrew from the team on the eve of the second Test. In 2007,
Cullinan took up a coaching role with the ICL.
Dirk
Nannes
Full
name Dirk Peter
Nannes
Born May 16, 1976, Mount Waverley, Melbourne, Victoria
Current
age 39 years 348
days
Major
teams Australia, Netherlands,
Australian Cricketers Association Masters, Canterbury, Chennai Super
Kings, Delhi Daredevils, Lions, Melbourne
Renegades, Middlesex, Mountaineers, Otago, Royal Challengers
Bangalore, Somerset, Somerset 2nd XI, Surrey, Sydney Thunder, Sylhet
Royals, Victoria
Playing
role Bowler
Batting
style Right-hand bat
Bowling
style Left-arm fast
A self-confessed
"accidental cricketer", for most of Dirk Nannes' adult life, cricket
has been an afterthought. He used to play a couple of club games at the start
of the season, a handful at the end, and in between travel the world pursuing
his other passion, skiing. He was no run-of-the-mill ski bum - he competed for
several years in World Cup skiing events. But when he started to take his
cricket seriously, he quickly grabbed the attention of Victoria's selectors. It
led to a first-class debut at 29 in 2005-06, and in his second game he suffered
the group humiliation of watching Queensland storm to 6 for 900 declared in the
Pura Cup final.
There was more joy in
the Twenty20, where he was instrumental in the Bushrangers winning the title.
Nannes destroyed Western Australia with 4 for 23 in the final, and his
promising FR Cup season - 11 wickets at 20.54 - hinted that he would be a big
part of Victoria's attack moving forward.
Nannes gave up hope of
playing for Australia after being overlooked for the World Twenty20 in England
in 2009. Instead, he turned out for Netherlands (he is the son of Dutch migrant
parents and carries a Dutch passport) and was part of the side that shocked
England in the tournament opener. Though he went wicketless in that game, he
was soon on Australia's radar, making his debut in an ODI against Scotland at
Edinburgh. Quickly establishing himself as one of Twenty20 cricket's leading
bowlers in the international arena, Nannes was the leading wicket-taker at the
World Twenty20 in the Caribbean in May 2010, picking up 14 scalps at 13.07.
Despite picking up 93 wickets at a shade over 25 in
less than three years of first-class cricket, Nannes decided to retire from the
longer forms of the game in February 2010 and become a limited-overs specialist
- a route that is becoming increasingly more common for fast bowlers. Unlike a
typical fast bowler, however, Nannes speaks Japanese, studied the saxophone at
university and runs a successful ski-travel company.
Iain O'Brien
Full
name Iain Edward
O'Brien
Born July 10, 1976, Lower Hutt, Wellington
Current
age 39 years 293
days
Major
teams New
Zealand, Leicestershire, Middlesex,Wellington
Batting
style Right-hand bat
Bowling
style Right-arm
fast-medium
A fast bowler from
Wellington, Iain O'Brien earned his first Test call-up in March 2005 when New
Zealand's pace stocks were hit by injury problems. He had had a solid State
Championship that season, taking 20 wickets at 26.55, but
his impact in his two Tests against Australia was limited. O'Brien managed only
one wicket in each match and faded from the national selectors' radar until
2006-07, when he was included in Test and ODI squads for Sri Lanka's tour of
New Zealand. He wasn't used, however, and had to settle for being the leading
wicket-taker in the State Championship with 34 victims at 20.85. Those figures
were enough to keep him in the frame and he finally added to his Test tally in
South Africa in November 2007 after he was a late replacement in the touring
party because of an injury to Kyle Mills.
O'Brien shunts between New Zealand and England to be
with his English wife, who lives in Derbyshire. Writing is one of his hobbies
and apart from managing his own blog, he contributes to a local Derbyshire
cricket website. In December 2009, he retired from international cricket to
spend more time with his family in England, and joined Middlesex as a
replacement for MuraliKarthik.
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