Now, a talent hunt to choose India's 'Cricket Idol'

New Delhi, Dec 29 (UNI) The Reality Show' bandwagon rolls on! After scouting for best performers - actors, singers, dancing divas and 'jodis', 'adorable hunks' and 'beauties with hous glass figures - the reality show 'wagonwheel' is all set to enter the realm of sports.

Ready to 'roll out' on the small screen is 'Cricket Star', a 'talent hunt' show to select India's first 'Cricketing Idol'.

Produced by Miditech, the pioneers in reality programming for Indian television having given to the country several 'idols' in the field of playback singing through shows like the 'Indian Idol' and 'Fame Gurukul' on Sony, 'Cricket Star' will have the best of cricketing talent in the country vie for the title of India's cricketing idol.

As part of the process to selecting India's 'Cricket Star', auditions were held in Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Delhi during which 11 youngsters were selected from each of the cities. Anyone above the age of 15 was eligible to participate in the selections.

The auditions in Delhi, held earlier this week at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium, saw about 1000 youngsters between the age of 15 to 27 vie for a place among the 11 lucky one to be selected from the capital.

Prominenr among those who judged the participants at the auditions was former cricketer Robin Singh.

The 44 talented cricketers selected at the auditions will be filtered down to 22 who will be put through an intensive training camp in Mumbai after which they will vie with one another for the title of 'Cricket Star'.

Over a span of 11 episodes, to be aired from the first week of January over a period of 11 weeks on Zee TV, Zee Sports and DD National, the 22 will be put through a twenty twenty contest, to be judged by top Indian cricketers, Kapil Dev and Saurav Ganguly, with Ajay Jadeja as the Expert-Analyst. Each week, two of the contestants will be eliminated, a process that will, at the end of the eleventh week, culminate in the selection of the 'Cricket Star'.

The producer of the show feel that a show like the 'Cricket Star' will evoke an instant identification among the Indian audience considering that Cricket, along with Bollywood, constitutes one of the greatest passions of people in the country.

Says Nikhil Alva, CEO, Miditech,''Cricket Star' by far the largest talent-hunt reality series ever witnessed by the Indian audiences. This innovative and ground breaking format has been conceptualised keeping in mind India's passion for Cricket.'' The winner of the first series of 'Cricket Star', be it boy or girl, will win a year's all-expenses-paid contract with the prestigious Leicestershire County Cricket Club and attractive cash prizes. The final 11 participants will also have the opportunity to participate in the global rollout of Cricket Star, which is slated for a UK launch in the Summer of 2007.

UNI