Mumbai: Videocon d2h DTH service provider and the Principal Sponsor of Mumbai Indians, hosted the d2h Gully league with Mumbai Indians, a gully cricket tournament on 3rd May 2017 at National Sports Club of India, Worli. Spartans were crowned the Ultimate Champions of the 1st ever d2h Gully League with Mumbai Indians.
The contest #d2hgullyleaguewithMI was promoted heavily on social media page through Videocon d2h facebook, twitter & instagram pages. Participants had to upload their team selfie along with the team name on any of these pages with the hashtag #d2hgullyleaguewithMI. Of the numerous entries, 16 teams were selected, these teams were divided into 4 groups and the winner of each group qualified for the semi final on 3rd May 2017. Two Mumbai Indians players joined each of the 4 teams that qualified and played against each other.
The qualifier matches were played on 29th April 2017 and four teams got the opportunity to play with Mumbai Indians Players. The teams that qualified for the semi finals are Mumbai Blasters, Andheri Boys, Gully Blasters & Spartans.
The Mumbai Indians players who were part of this Gully Cricket were Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Jasprit Bumrah, Karn Sharma, Nitish Rana, Tim Southie &Nicholas Pooran.
Videocon d2h has a history of supporting cricket through its long term association with the Mumbai Indians IPL team now in its 5th year. The ‘d2h Gully League with MI’ is an initiative Videocon d2h to tap into the talent at the grassroots gully level and provide them a platform to perform on the big stage.
Mumbai Indians spokesperson said, “d2hGullyleague is an interesting initiative to connect with fans. At one point Gully cricket has played an influential part of every cricketer’s career and it was good to go back to the roots today.”
Mr. Saurabh Dhoot, Executive Chairman, Videocon d2h, “Gully cricket has been responsible for the rise of many promising cricketers. With our association with Mumbai Indians we strive to bring the informal ad hoc variant of the game into the limelight and encourage passionate cricketers. This initiative has helped us build a better connect with the highly charged cricket fans of Mumbai.”
Mr. Anil Khera – CEO, Videocon d2h, “Cricket is an integral part of our culture, it transcends boundaries. We wanted to celebrate and capture this vibrant spirit through the concept of d2h Gully League with MI. This is a part of Videocon d2h’s efforts to encourage latent talent. We are overwhelmed by the response to this initiative.” Videocon d2h takes pride in presenting its subscribers with a robust line-up of more than 650+ channels and services, including a host of regional channels. It offers a wide range of active services like smart services including Smart English, Smart Games. The other active services include d2h Hollywood HD, d2h music, d2h spice, d2h cinema in both Standard Definition and HD, etc.