Mumbai Indians will start their campaign at Wankhede Stadium against Delhi Capitals on Sunday. The Rohit Sharma led side failed to make play-offs last season but here comes the odd year again for the trophy to be brought back home. MI won the title in 2013, 2015 and 2017 and it remains to be seen whether the pattern continues in 2019.
The tournament has increased camaraderie between the domestic and foreign players as was visible during a practice session when MI wicketkeeper coach Kiran More gave tips to Delhi Capitals wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.
The city-based Indian Premier League franchise has tried to reach closer to fans to share these moments besides match and training session updates. MI has a great following on its Twitter handle (@mipaltan), Instagram, Facebook page and other social media platforms. It has also announced initiatives like Education for All which has evolved into Education & Sports For All. Since 2010, they have supported 2,00,000 students by partnering with NGOs, giving an opportunity to the children to learn through Digital Vans and given them a once in a lifetime opportunity to watch their favourite stars at Wankhede Stadium.
This season, the MI franchise has teamed up with Snapchat. The partnership will bring fans at home and in the stadium behind-the-scenes updates and the chance to show their support for their favourite team on match days through creative Augmented Reality Lenses, Our Stories and more.
The fans can follow Mumbai Indians on Snapchat @mi_platan where they will be posting updates and behind-the-scenes highlights on their official account’s story and opt-in to receive notifications when they post.
In addition, from today CricTracker and Sportskeeda will launch on Snapchat’s Discover providing up-to-date news on all things IPL through their own Publisher Stories.
Fans will also be able to celebrate key moments and show their support in creative ways —wearing their teams’ colours with special augmented reality lenses as well as adding creative touches to their Snaps with a range of custom filters and stickers.
There will also be Our Stories around the opening weekend games in Chennai, Mumbai, Jaipur and Kolkata celebrating the best submissions from fans across India, with the first going live on March 25. Our Stories are collections of publicly submitted Snaps from events and locations around the world and curated by editors at Snapchat.
Besides this, BCCI has increased IPL fan parks to bring action to more cities in India and ESPN Cricinfo has brought SuperStats to give detailed accounts of the matches.
