MUMBAI: Cricket based reality talent hunt show called Cricket Star will hit television on DD National and the Zee Network on 14 January.
The show will run for eleven weeks, with three weekly simulcast episodes on DD National and Zee Sports, on Sundays at 11:30 am, Mondays and Tuesdays at 8:30 pm and a weekly episode on Zee TV on Saturdays from 6.30 pm to 7.30 pm.
Investors In Cricket, a company specializing in the creation and management of sports rights that have relevance to the Asian Sub continent has conceptualized the show Cricket Star. The company then signed on cricket gurus Kapil Dev and Saurav Ganguly to be the selectors while Ajay Jadeja has been appointed as a cricket analyst and co-anchor. The show will be hosted by TV personality Shweta Salve.
After weeks of mini and regional auditions conducted across the nation in 11 cities including Jaipur, Jamshedpur, Rajkot, Lucknow, Mysore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore, 23 participants were shortlisted. These 23 will now be competing with each other to be the Cricket Star of India.
The winner of the first series, Cricket Star India, will win a one-year all-expenses-paid contract with Leicestershire County Cricket Club and attractive cash prizes and will also achieve international celebrity status. The final 11 contestants will also have the opportunity to participate in the global rollout of Cricket Star, which is slated for a UK launch in summer 2007 and a subsequent launch in Pakistan, where there is significant interest in the format, informs an official release.
With Sourav being away in South Africa, the selection was conducted under cricket gurus Kapil Dev (Selector) and Robin Singh (Director of Academy). Ajay Jadeja (Cricket Analyst) was present throughout the regional rounds providing support and tips to the young cricket participants. Cricket Star aspirants will play a series of 20:20 cricket matches as part of the programme, which will be telecast on Zee Sports on Sundays at 3 pm - 6 pm.
Each week at the Cricket Star Academy contestants will be subjected to specialized cricket tests, personal challenges and master class inputs from legends of the game, along with cricket coaching and fitness training. Based on their performances each week, the judges will nominate the bottom four performers, out of whom the other contestants will evict two. Following which, the final eleven contestants, will be voted by television by phone or SMS. The contestant receiving the maximum votes cumulatively will be declared the Cricket Star. The show will culminate in the final episode in the end of March.
The IIC has signed on Miditech Pvt. Ltd as the production house for the show.
