The Wisden honour has come at an opportune time. The One Alliance, the conglomeration of six channels of the Sony-Discovery bouquet, is actively using brand ambassador Kapil Dev for trade promotions of the joint venture in different cities. The all time cricket great will also appear on promos, that will be aired on all six channels from this evening.

Kapil, officially the brand ambassador of the Alliance since 31 May this year, is doing the rounds of Lucknow, Kanpur and Kolkata to meet up with local cable ops and convince them of the entertainment power of the Alliance. In an innovative exercise, Kapil spends a day at each city, visiting three or four headends and appearing live on local cable networks. Phone-ins have been arranged on these shows, where viewers have been given the freedom to ask the ace cricketer any queries they have about him as well as the channels.

Kapil also attends informal gatherings organized for the cable ops in the evening, where contests are held and merchandise distributed, say sources in the Alliance.

Kapil is scheduled to visit Nagpur, Pune and Hyderabad next month and two more cities in September for a similar exercise in these cities. The novel strategy is being implemented with the forthcoming Champions Trophy as well as the World Cup in mind, say sources.