Celebrity Cricket League spins an entertaining opening for the viewers

Mumbai’s Brabourne stadium was buzzing with anticipation all day today as some very interesting players descended upon the pitch for a whole new game of cricket. Leading actors from across the country donned their team colours as they came together to launch next edition of Celebrity Cricket League with a star studded opening ceremony featuring mind-blowing performances by none other than Varun Dhawan, Neha Dhupia and Siddharth Mahadevan.The event was hosted by Manish Paul who made sure that the audiences had a gala time as an afternoon of sports unfolded.

The bigger, better and starrier season of the XXX energy drink ‘Celebrity Cricket League’ powered by Parle 20-20 and co-presented by Panasonic witnessed a galaxy of stars descend upon the red carpet. The tinsel town made its presence felt with stars like Anil Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Bipasha Basu,  Karan Singh Grover, Sonam Kapoor, Zayed Khan, Ayushmann Khurana, Arbaaz khan, Malaika Arora Khan, Huma Qureshi, Genelia Dsouza, Neha Dhupia, Lisa Haydon, Anu Malik, Ranvijay Singha, Gulshan Grover, Sophie Choudry, VJ Andy gracing the event.

The stadium was ablaze with contagious enthusiasm of the two rival teams. While Mumbai Heroes, led by Bobby Deol and owned by Sohail Khan, included stars like Suneil Shetty, Rajneish Duggal, Arman Kohli, Sonu Sood, Aftab Shivdasani, Shabir Ahluwalia and Vatsal Seth amongst others, Veer Marathis owned and led by Riteish Deshmukh, consisted of Sharad Kelkar, Siddharth Jadhav, Makrand Deshpande and more. The nail biting climax to the match led to Mumbai Heroes tasting the first victory of the season. The second match scheduled for the evening was played between Karnataka Bulldozers led by Captain Sudeep and Bhojpuri Dabanggs with Manoj Tiwari taking on the captaincy. This show of cricketainment met with much vigour and cheer from the audience.

Speaking about the association with CCL, Raj Nayak, CEO – COLORS and Rishtey said, “The Celebrity Cricket League further adds to the cricket mania that has gripped the nation. The event brings together the biggest faces from the Hindi and Regional film industries to further build on the sports enthusiasm. As broadcast partners for CCL for the second year in a row, we are looking forward to extend our support as wholesome entertainment providers to our viewers as well as marketers who look at different avenues to reach out to their target audience across the country.”

Vishnu Induri, Chairman and M.D., CCL Spokesperson said, “It’s a perfect blend of Entertainment meets Sports creating a ‘Sportainment’. CCL 20-20 is a feast for film stars. It’s that time of the year when film actors take a short break from the sets and head to the cricket ground.  Internet has made our world small; similarly, CCL has made the Indian film industry united. We are happy to join hands with COLORS and Rishtey for broadcasting the series and look forward to building an enriching viewing experience for sports and entertainment lovers.”

COLORS and Rishtey have devised a detailed integrated marketing plan to promote CCL across platforms. The channel has also designed an extensive digital media campaign which entails social media engagement through contests on Twitter along with a special association with YouTube’s content creators. Additionally, a special CCL FanCam is being set up which will permit fans to zoom into match pictures and explore the happenings at face-level. The FanCam will also allow CCL fans to tag themselves in the images and share branded content via social media networks like Facebook and Twitter.

CCL has roped in XXX Energy Drink as the Presenting Sponsors for CCL with Parle 20-20 Cookies stepping in as the Powered by Sponsors. Other partners for the event include Co-presenting Sponsors Panasonic, Associate sponsors Wedmantra and Pride India, mobile partner Karbonn Mobiles, CSR partners Hrudaya Foundation and Big Brother, outdoor partner Bright Outdoor Advertising, Radio partner 92.7 Big FM, and team sponsors Rizwan Adatia Foundation, Venky’s nutrition, Videocon D2h, Hero Cycles, Suzuki and Bharathi cement.