Stars bat for badminton
“Is this what it takes to get your attention?”
It’s the war cry of the Indian Badminton League (IBL).
For a tournament wholly inspired by the Indian Premier League (IPL), the IBL certainly seems to be trying its hardest to break the mould, if work on their promotional campaign is anything to go by.
With the IBL’s scheduled start a mere six weeks away, everyone is beginning to kick up a storm to raise interest in the sixteam, franchise-based competition.
The first step is the promotional campaign that takes a dig at India’s most popular sport.
The filmmakers roped in headliners like national coach Pullela Gopichand, Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, men’s World No.13 Parupalli Kashyap, former Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning partners Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, and rising star P.V. Sindhu during a fun-filled day of filming at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy at Gachibowli in Hyderabad.
The idea is pure tonguein-cheek. The shuttlers donned cricketing gear, played cricketing shots using badminton equipment and threw a challenge to the spectators, asking them if badminton needs to be played cricketstyle to be noticed. “Is this what it takes to get your attention?”
Saina was all earnestness in her appeal, Gopi exuded gravitas while Jwala and Ashwini, though no longer playing together, showed once again the magic that won them all those accolades.
“It was fun. I had never done anything like this before,” said Saina, on wearing a batsman’s pads and gloves.
“The shoot was fun. Hopefully, people will like what I did. This is an innovative concept. Cricket is obviously the most popular sport and badminton is trying to become one of the big sports. This is a great way to promote the IBL,” she added.
Jwala agreed. “It was a lot of fun wearing the cricket gear,” she said.
“This is a very fresh and innovative concept. I like the way they take a dig at cricket. It looks like the IBL will make an impact,” the fiesty shuttler said.
Ashwini and Jwala made an entrance like a pair of openers in cricket. They then punched gloves, wore their helmets and proceeded to hit the shuttlecock out of the court.
Gopi, meanwhile, used a cricket bat to hit shuttlecocks to the ‘slip cordon’ while Saina played a few strokes with her racquet.
If this is the benchmark for thinking behind the IBL, the inaugural edition of the tournament promises some fun times ahead.