STAR Sports to telecast Planet Cricket; India ’s first ever cricketing travelogue

New Delhi November 13, 2006 – ESPN STAR Sports, Asia’s premier sports broadcaster, will present Planet Cricket, a six episode cricketing travelogue covering the five venues on India 's calendar to South Africa . The series will cover the five cricket grounds of Centurion, Johannesburg , Port Elizabeth , Cape Town and Durban with the sixth episode being the highlights of the previous five. The show, a preview series to India ’s tour of South Africa will be hosted by the quintessential Gautam Bhimani and will go on air from November 13, 2006.

With one episode dedicated to one venue, each episode will not just be a guide to the actual cricket ground of the region, but will also cover some memorable cricket moments from that very ground. The show will also add the travel element by taking the viewers on a tour of the region covering the sights, sounds and smells of a nation that is one of the world’s most sought after tourist hotspots.

The places covered will include spots of historical significance like Soweto , the township that housed Nelson Mandella and Bishop Desmond Tutu or even the house that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi lived in for 21 years and the courts in which he practiced during his early days in South Africa . Apart from the historical aspect, the travelogue will get away to the fabled Sun City, climb magnificent Table Mountain, drive down the world famous Garden Route, soak in the beaches of Durban, taste the heady wines at the legendary vineyards of the Western Cape, explore Kruger National Park and other world famous Safari spots, attempt the world's highest Bungee Jump and take a breathtaking trip to the Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost point of the African Continent.

On the cricketing side of it, there will be mouth watering cricket action, much of it involving Team India including Sachin Tendulkar's 169 at Cape Town and Sourav Ganguly's audacious hundred in Johannesburg in 2001. Not to be left out is the greatest ever one day international between Australia and South Africa at the Wanderers in 2006 that showered a mammoth 872 runs.

Catch Gautam Bhimani take you on a spectacular ride of South Africa , only on STAR Sports

India Time. Schedule subject to change