MUMBAI: Beginning today everyone will be glued to their television screens to witness one of the biggest cricketing moment in history. This will be the last time that cricket fans will get to see the master blaster - Sachin Tendulkar - don the Indian colours.

But, that’s not all - cricket as a sport has always been followed as a religion in this culturally diverse nation. The latest viewership numbers that the seventh and final ODI played between India and Australia witnessed proves it.

The last ODI between India and Australia emerged as the highest rated single day TV event in India for the year 2013. According to data provided by Star Sports, the match garnered 55,561 TVTs (CS 15+, M, SEC ABC, All India ) which remains unmatched on Indian television across all genres this year. It also recorded highest time spent per viewer (TSV) across ODIs in 2013 with 101 minutes on both Hindi and English commentary feed on Star Sports channels.

The recently concluded Star Sports India vs Australia ODI series 2013 was watched by almost 43 per cent of the C&S homes.

Speaking on the occasion, Star India head of sports business Nitin Kukreja said, “We are delighted with the viewer traction for the series. There is an upswing of almost 18 per cent in average time spent per viewer per match for the India-Australia ODI series as compared to all India ODIs played in the year 2013.  We are pleased to note the stickiness that Hindi commentary has been able to generate in the HSM markets. This is a clear cut vindication of our strategy of promoting choice of language for the consumer.”

Sports broadcaster Star Sports had launched a high-decibel campaign, with the core theme ‘Fight for No 1’; to promote the India Australia series featuring seven ODIs and a T20 match. The high profile series commenced on 10 October and ended on 2 November, just two days before Diwali.
ODI 4 and 5 of the series were impacted by rain. India won the hard fought contest 3-2 thereby retaining the number one ranking in the ICC ODI Rankings.