Kennita Jose sat in her living room on her favorite armchair, her laptop propped up on her knees as the Indian Premier League anthem roared through the computer’s small speaker, marking the start of the 2020 cricket season.
Jose, 23, of Ardsley, N.Y. was nearly 7,000 miles away from the long-awaited Sept. 19 match between the Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians in Abu Dhabi — the first since coronavirus swept through the Eastern hemisphere.
Now, almost five hours into the faceoff and with only five balls remaining in the last over in the game, Jose — a diehard Chennai fan — leaned toward the screen to watch batsman Faf du Plessis take his place in front of the wickets.
“One more run…one more run…” she murmured, as the camera paused briefly on the scoreboard showing the 163 targets the Chennai team was striving for.
Mumbai Indians bowler Trent Boult made his way down the pitch as Du Plessis prepared his stance.
Boult delivered the ball — and with a quick stroke of bat, du Plessis scored into the boundary, securing a victory for the Super Kings.
Bursting with adrenaline, Jose ran to the next room and hugged her sister, sweeping her off the floor with pure excitement.
“It felt SO GOOD to see a win! I was super excited for them,” said Jose.
Millions of people worldwide tuned in to see the highly-anticipated match — the first in IPL history to not have fans in the stands because of efforts to curb the novel coronavirus.
Despite this setback, new technology geared toward improving the at-home experience has helped cricket buffs like Jose feel as if they’re right on the pitch.
“I’ve watched the matches virtually since I was a young girl…so the improvement in technology is really eye-opening…every inch of the field is made visible to viewers…I never feel like I’m missing out,” said Jose.
The tournament, originally scheduled to commence in late March, was relocated from India to Abu Dhabi by IPL and the United Arab Emirates cricket board as COVID cases surged in the subcontinent.
In an interview with the online paper “Mint,” White Rivers Media cofounder Shrenik Gandhi described the success of watching the games remotely. “This pivot to digital has been quite encouraging. From getting fans inside a commentary box to engaging with them through online games, IPL stakeholders seem to be doing all the right things to stay connected with fans,” said Shrenik.
Watching the matches from her home in Coimbatore, India, Sadhvi Surendhran, 19, notes that having the teams return even virtually “gives people something to look forward to, given everything that’s happening this year…even though it’s short-lived there is always joy in seeing your favorite team play beautifully and win.”
Star India, the official broadcasting network of IPL, has set up digital fan walls in the stadiums where 96 fans worldwide are randomly selected to cheer for their players’ live time for each match to improve the fan experience further.
“Fans can see the players and more importantly, the player too can see the fans real-time and make eye-contact with them,” said Venky Mysore, CEO of the Kolkata Knight Riders team, in his interview with Gulf News.
Thanks to this new technology, IPL remains a “combination of your favorite players from all over the world coming together,” said Jose.