NEW DELHI: BBC World Service in partnership with All India Radio (AIR) and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is launching a new show called Stumped from 17 January.
The show will bring together three cricket live wires - India, the UK and Australia - on one platform.
The team of Stumped has presenters from all the three broadcasters. The names, which are part of commentators’ team, are Prakash Wakankar, English commentator of AIR; Alison Mitchell, first female commentator of BBC and the programme host and ABC’s Jim Maxwell. The idea behind the show is to explore the world of cricket and bring lively, informative, and humorous debate.
Keeping with the spirit of World Cup 2015, the first series will coincide with the start of the tournament. The show will be hosted from venues across the World Cup host countries - Australia and New Zealand. There will be weekly roundup and discussion of key talking points from the World Cup and other lighter stories in sport from around the world.
Indian cricket fans will be able to relish the ‘tales from the test’ that will be recounted by cricketing raconteur Henry Blofeld. Beside this, there will be some hard hitting questions on the show like: Why did penguins once stop play? And which international team score highest in the fashion stakes? Why do so many cricket terms find their way into everyday language?
AIR director general F Sheheryar said, “AIR is delighted to co-produce and broadcast Stumped, together with BBC and ABC, on cricket, which undoubtedly is the favourite sport of millions of sports lovers in India. All India Radio hopes that this programme, which will be carried by AIR’s FM Rainbow network in India, will help ordinary listeners understand the sport better and also spark listeners’ interest in the game in which India is the reigning champion especially with the ICC World Cup round the corner.”
Stumped is a weekly programme and will be aired at 11:30 IST on All India Radio FM Rainbow Network and also at 0030 GMT on the BBC World Service. It will also be live streamed on All India Radio website.
