RCB's first IPL win: Fans credit Premanand Maharaj's blessings
Just a day after retiring from Test cricket, Virat Kohli visited Premanand Maharaj with his wife Anushka Sharma. Weeks later, RCB lifted their first-ever IPL trophy. Coincidence? The internet doesn't think so.
#RCB #ViratKohli #PremanandMaharaj #AnushkaSharma #IPL2025 #IPLFinal #Viral #RCBFans #RCBChampion #EeSaalaCupNamde
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India Today
11 minutes ago
- India Today
Don't even drink Royal Challenge: DK Shivakumar denies rumours of buying RCB
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has denied rumours that he plans to buy the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) team.'I'm not a mad man. I've been a member of the Karnataka Cricket Association since my younger days, that's all,' he said. 'I don't have time for this, though I did get offers to join cricket management. I don't even have time for my own educational institution, I resigned and left it to my family do I need RCB? I don't even drink Royal Challenge,' he said to news agency indicate that Diageo Plc, the British liquor giant that owns RCB through its Indian arm, United Spirits Ltd, is considering selling a part or full stake in the team. According to sources cited in the report, Diageo has begun early talks with advisers and is weighing options, including a full sale. The company is reportedly looking at a possible valuation of up to 2 billion dollars for the team. However, no final decision has been made, and the discussions are still Shivakumar's comments come just days after a stampede at an RCB felicitation event in Bengaluru left 11 people dead. He also said that Karnataka is now working on a crowd management policy. Earlier on Tuesday, the Karnataka High Court questioned the state government on whether any Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) had been put in place to handle crowds of 50,000 or more at sporting events or similar large-scale IN THIS STORY#Karnataka
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
36 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Pooran appointed as captain of MLC team MI New York a day after retirement
Nicholas Pooran has been named the new captain of MI New York just a day after calling time on his international career, marking a swift transition from national duties to franchise leadership. The announcement comes ahead of the third season of Major League Cricket (MLC), which begins Thursday in the United States. Pooran, one of T20 cricket's most explosive batters, had stunned the cricketing world by announcing his retirement from international cricket on Tuesday, bringing an end to a career as West Indies' most-capped T20I player of all time. MI New York, the defending MLC champions, wasted no time in unveiling the 29-year-old as their skipper, signalling their ambition to build further success around his firepower and leadership credentials. A familiar face, a new role MI New York confirmed the development on social media, stating that a 'new commander' had arrived. The franchise praised Pooran as one of the most feared batters in the game and expressed full confidence in his leadership. According to team sources, the decision was a natural progression given his on-field exploits, including his unbeaten 137 in the 2023 MLC final that led MI New York to the title. Pooran at the peak of his powers Pooran enters the new season in red-hot form. In IPL 2025, he smashed 524 runs at a staggering strike rate of 196.25, with five half-centuries and a record-setting tally of sixes across two seasons. His ability to consistently dominate bowling attacks made him the top run-scorer in the previous MLC edition with 388 runs. A global T20 star Though he never played Test cricket, Pooran left an indelible mark in white-ball formats. He ended his West Indies stint with 2,275 runs in 106 T20Is and 1,983 runs in 61 ODIs. Despite offering no clear reason for stepping away from the international game, team insiders suggest he wanted to focus on global franchise opportunities. With stars like Quinton de Kock, Kieron Pollard and Rashid Khan alongside him, Pooran now leads MI New York into a new chapter but this time, as captain.
Mint
an hour ago
- Mint
Brands pile in, ads get shorter: IPL 18 rewrites the rules of cricket-time marketing: Report
The 18th edition of the Indian Premier League was a season of more—more advertisers, more categories, and ad clutter—but not necessarily more airtime. Despite only a modest 0.5% rise in average ad volume per match as compared with last year, the number of advertisers increased by 30% and the brand count by 29% in the latest season of the popular cricket tournament, according to new research from TAM Sports. That meant a tighter squeeze for visibility, and a sharp shift in strategy of companies to cope with ad rates. The most preferred ad format this year, as a result, was less than 10 seconds—overtaking previous year's 11-20 second spots—as brands opted for quicker, high-frequency messaging to stay in the game. This makes sense considering that as per media reports, IPL 2025 was expected to pull in an estimated ₹ 4,500 crore in advertising revenue, with brands paying between ₹ 25 lakh and ₹ 28 lakh for a 10-second TV ad slot. On digital platforms, CPMs (cost per mille, or cost per 1,000 impressions) ranged from ₹ 250-500, depending on a match's viewership draw. For the current season, digital ad rates on average reportedly grew by 30-40%, reaching ₹ 400 CPM, while TV spot prices softened. On JioCinema (now JioHotstar) last year, pre- and post-match slots were priced at ₹ 200 per 1,000 views, and a single spot on connected TVs cost ₹ 6.5 lakh. According to TAM Sports' IPL 18 advertising report, which took into account all 74 matches, despite new brands on display, the top of the advertising pile looked exactly like the year before. Surrogate ads for pan masala brands still ruled the screen, with mouth fresheners remaining the single-largest ad category for a second successive year. Vimal Elaichi, promoted by Vishnu Packaging, topped the charts once again, followed by Kamla Pasand from KP Pan Foods, and Dream11, owned by Sporta Technologies Pvt. Ltd, show the data from TAM Sports, a division of TAM Media Research. But the dominance of the top five advertisers this year—Parle Biscuits, Vishnu Packaging, Reliance Consumer Products Ltd (Campa Cola), KP Pan Foods, and Sporta Technologies—reduced slightly, as they accounted for just 27% of total ad volume, down from 33% last season. The top five brands also saw their IPL ad share drop from 32% to 22%, reflecting how crowded and fragmented the ad space has become. With more than 186 brands active across national and regional sports channels, commercial breaks in India's highest watched private cricketing tournament are no longer dominated by these familiar names. That IPL ad fragmentation was also driven by a reshuffling of sectors and categories. IPL 18 introduced over 25 new advertiser categories, while 25 others from IPL 17 dropped out. Real estate, mobile services, fashion retail, and jewellery emerged as the top new entrants—with a focus on premium consumer sectors which were previously less visible during live sports. Meanwhile, big segments like personal care, consumer durables, and multi-product food brands saw their share decline or vanish from the top five altogether. Food and beverages retained their lead, accounting for 36% of total ad volume this year, up slightly from 34% last year. Services remained unchanged at 23%, while the auto sector climbed into the top three with 9% share. The banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector and personal care moved further down the pecking order. The top five categories this year—mouth fresheners, biscuits, ecommerce-gaming, soft drinks, and financial services—collectively contributed 40% of ad volumes, slightly down from 43% last year, the report said. Despite the increased brand participation, the overall indexed ad volume grew just 10.5%—a sign that IPL has reached near-saturation in available inventory, pushing advertisers to innovate within constraints. The dominance of short-duration formats this year, reversing last year's trend, is one such adjustment, helping marketers balance frequency, cost, and recall.
