Mumbai, Apr 3 (IANS): In staying true to providing innovative and meaningful content for cricket fans and viewers, Indias leading sports broadcaster, Star Sports, through digital connectivity, has introduced a new show called Cricket Connected. The show aims to engage cricket-starved fans and keep them connected to the sport they love.

With the first episode airing on April 4 and hosted by Mayanti Langer (English) & Jatin Sapru (Hindi) Cricket Connected will try to fill the current void for cricket fans every Saturday at 7 p.m. & 9 p.m. IST.

Every week, Cricket Connected will see a different cricketing legend engage with fans through video calls discussing a range of topics, from getting to know what these cricketers are up to during the lockdown to reminiscing with them over their favourite knock.

Each episode will have segments that will encourage fans to engage and interact with the cricketing legends. Two of these segments called #AskStar & Cricket Recreated give fans the opportunity to share their favourite cricket moments and also send their questions using #AskStar for the cricketing legends to answer. Fans can tag the social media handle of @starsportsindia to send in these videos with the hashtag #CricketConnected and #AskStar.

The third segment, 'Kids Connected' will look to involve the young fans of the sport and invite them to share home-made videos of them doing commentary tagging #KidsConnected, on the @starsportsindia Twitter handle. In an attempt to encourage this group of passionate fans to stay connected to the game of cricket, the best of these clips will be shown as part of the Kids Connected segment on Cricket Connected.

The inaugural episode on April 4 will see international legends Kevin Pietersen, Scott Styris, Sanjay Manjrekar, Ashish Nehra and Harbhajan Singh share their thoughts on the current cricket scenario.

Commenting on the show, Scott Styris said: "Millions of sports fans throughout the country are feeling the void of no live sporting events. I have been missing out on the ‘Dugout' action myself. I think ‘Cricket Connected' is the right platform for athletes and sports fans to connect especially during these times, where there's nothing much going on out there."

Sanjay Manjrekar said: "The COVID-19 outbreak spread across countries has brought the sporting world to a standstill and is a bleak time for sports fans. I think by introducing ‘Cricket Connected', Star Sports is helping fans and the cricket community to stay connected. Though nothing beats live sports, am looking forward to some fun banter while reliving memories and bring the game into India's living rooms."

Ashish Nehra: "I feel ‘Cricket Connected' is a good opportunity and platform for fans and sports lovers to connect and discuss their passion for the game. In the absence of live games, this is an excellent initiative by Star Sports to keep the spirit of the game alive."