Five reasons why IPL 2018 promises to be exciting

In a bid to stay relevant, one has to constantly evolve its product. The IPL bores no exception to the aforementioned fact.

The year 2008 will always be remembered as the watershed year for world cricket with the launch of the lucrative T20 league - IPL. Suddenly the domestic players were sharing the dressing room with greats of the game. On the entertainment front, from introducing a ten team concept to adding strategic time-out in a bid to attenuate the levels of excitement, the IPL has always tried to push the envelope.

The 2018 season of the IPL promises to escalate it to another level with a series of sweeping changes that will add magnanimity of the tournament. On that note here's a look at five reasons why IPL 2018 will be different from its predecessors:

#5 Telecast in six different languages

In September last year, Star India bought the media and broadcasting rights previously held by Sony, for a whopping Rs 16,347 crore for a period spanning five years.

In a bid to entice eyeballs and add elements of excitement to a viewer's experience, Star India has worked out a telecast plan that promises to transcend the language barrier. Along with live streaming on its hugely popular app called Hotstar, Star Sports will telecast the IPL matches across ten channels in six different languages.

"IPL is the biggest property on television today. It has withstood the challenge of fragmentation and has grown in terms of viewership and watchtime. We will focus on technology and localisation to increase the fan base." said Sanjay Gupta, Managing Director, Star India

It will be the first time that an IPL match will be broadcasted in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Bengali alongside English and Hindi, adding a much needed localization of the tournament.