MUMBAI: The West Indies tour of India consisting of 3 Tests and 5 ODIs has begun on a tremendous high. The viewership for the first test match is 1.74 (TAM, Average till Day 3, 6 Metros, CS 15+ Males, ABC) and is more than double that of the series average when India toured West Indies in June 2011 and one of the highest ratings for an opening match in the last few years.

The viewership on the 4th day is set to further increase with Sachin nearing his century, a highly riveting contest of test cricket and a positive result favouring India. A number of factors have led to the high excitement around this series including Sachin?s monumental record of a 100th century, the return of all the big players from injury including Sachin, Sehwag and Yuvraj and several other milestones such Sachin scoring 15,000 Test runs and Dravid nearing 13,000 runs.

The snapshot of the viewership for the Test series in 2011

• India West Indies (Nov) : 1.74 (Average of first 3 days)
• England India (Jul) : 1.56
• West Indies India (Jun) : 0.78
  (Source : TAM, , 6 Metros, CS 15+ Males, ABC)

Prasana Krishnan, COO ? NEO Sports Broadcast Pvt Ltd said "The keenly contested game with West Indies that provided viewers with ample twists and turns, has delivered one of the best opening numbers for a test match in recent times. We are sure that the ratings will further increase in the next 2 matches with all the excitement and fan involvement around Tendulkar‘s record."