Punjab boy Sukhvir Singh is India's 'Cricket Idol'

New Delhi, Mar 30 (UNI) The Indian cricket team may have made a premature exit from the ''king of all cricketing tournaments'' but that has not dimmed ''cricketing fervour'' among the youth of the country specially those from the Indian heartland.

This was evident from the huge excitement that 'Cricket Star', a reality show to scout for ''potential Sachin Tendulkars and Kapil Devs'', generated among youngsters across the country.

Twenty-year-old Sukhvir Singh from Punjab emerged the winner of India's first Cricket talent hunt on television, which came to a Grand Finale on March 27.

Sukhvir emerged a winner from among 23 contestants who battled it out for the title of the Cricket Star, which brings with it a coveted place in the prestigious Leicestershire Country Cricket Club in addition to prizes like an all-expense paid trip to Dubai sponsored by Signature Crest (India's leading chain of serviced apartments) and a return ticket to London sponsored by Air India.

The runner-up of the competition was Mohammed Abbas, and Dinesh Salunkhe was chosen as the man of the series.

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', aired on Zee Sports and DD, saw the best of cricketing talent in the country vie for the title of India's Cricketing idol.

The show, which went on air on Zee Sports on January 14, witnessed cricketing experts like former Indian captains Kapil Dev and Sourav Ganguly judge the performances of 23 shortlisted cricketers, over a span of 33 episodes, to zero in on India's 'Cricket Star'.

The 23 finalists were shortlisted through a countrywide process wherein auditions were held in Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Delhi during which 11 youngsters were selected from each of the cities.

The 44 talented cricketers selected at the auditions were then filtered down to 23.

The 23 finalists spent 10 weeks at the "Cricket Star Academy" where they were trained under the guidance of an expert panel, including cricketers Robin Singh, Mushtaq Ahmed, Praveen Amre and Abey Kuruvilla.

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