Kids to be part of IPL 2010

Max has introduced Extraaa Innings T20 Junior hunt in nine cities across the country, to tap school children for the upcoming IPL

After introducing a female commentator aka Mandira Bedi to cricket, Max is all set to bring in the children.

The exclusive broadcaster of the DLF Indian Premier League, Max has introduced a talent hunt, called Extraaa Innings T20 Junior, to look for hosts in the age group of 7-14 years, among children from across the country.

The nationwide hunt for will select eight junior Extraaa Innings T20 hosts, for eight teams that play the game. The hosts will voice their opinions and interact with their home team players, guests and expert panel on-air for the entire DLF IPL 2010 season.

"Kids are a very natural audience for us, and we want to ensure that they feel involved in the activities and communication that we do. Also, as an entertainment channel, we want to give a complete family viewing experience. And kids have a big say in choosing what runs on TV," Gaurav Seth, vice-president - marketing, Max tells afaqs!.

The winners will feature on Extraaa Innings, when their teams play a match in the respective home cities. For instance, a winner from Mumbai will represent the Mumbai team, and when the team plays a match in the home-city, the winner will be part of Extraaa Innings.

The talent hunt, which began about a month ago, reaches 50 towns and over 1,200 schools through school contact programmes, radio contests, and IVRS modules. Registration forms were distributed in every school and teachers selected 30 students per school, based on the criteria shared with them. These students were then invited to participate in the audition in the city of their region.

Apart from this, there is also a radio contest, where kids will be quizzed by the radio jockey, and if found suitable, will win invites to the audition. The radio partner for this activity is Big FM. Kids can also register themselves at the venue for the auditions.

Nine cities have been chosen to hold the auditions, namely Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Bengaluru, Jaipur (the places that house the IPL teams) and Ahmedabad.

During these auditions, apart from their knowledge of cricket, the kids will be tested on several parameters, such as screen presence, entertainment quotient, spontaneity and confidence level.

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