SportsHero jumps into action starting with the Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Daredevils match today
A billion cricket fans and of course, a billion experts of the game in this cricket-crazy country can now channel their expertise to score points and win prizes, courtesy of SportsHero. The fantasy sports prediction app that is more popular among football fans currently, has now arrived on Indian shores and is looking to get more serious about cricket starting with the Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Daredevils match in IPL 2018 today.
This is not the first fantasy sports platform we have seen here. Super Selector has been immensely popular in the past and Dream11 is making giant strides lately, but unlike those two, SportsHero keeps things simple, in fact, a bit too simple as of now. While the first two expect you to build your team of eleven players based on the match schedule and virtual budgets, all you need to do in SportsHero is predict who will win the particular match. If your prediction is right, you win points. You keep on accumulating points and once you have enough, you can redeem them for prizes.
You can either predict blindly or make an educated guess, for which the app provides you with certain statistics and historical data about the match on hand. Each registered user is alloted 100,000 points that can be used to place your bets on. SportsHero also has a strong social media element where like-minded fans can interact with each other or brag about their achievements on the platform.
Speaking at the launch, Tom Lapping, Chief Executive Officer SportsHero, said, “Across the globe our users are passionate sports fans that have an innate desire to be closely connected to the games. India is a dynamic market with a huge love of cricket coupled with astounding mobile and social media consumption, making it an incredibly exciting market for us. To rank highly on SportsHero you need to combine genuine knowledge, skill and analysis of the game along with passion for the sport.”
The platform is structured around three revenue models – Free to Play, Pay to Play and Pay to Follow. However, we were told that there would be no monetary transaction model in India at least for now. The company claims to have tailored its product for the Indian market including market-specific prizes and has plans to integrate other Indian cricket leagues as well as other sports going ahead.
Cricket legend, Ian Chappell, who happens to be the global brand ambassador of SportsHero had this to add about why the platform would be a good fit in India, “Throughout my career, I have experienced first-hand the unbelievably strong passion India has for cricket. The IPL has been built on this love of the game and it has naturally sparked robust discussion, debate and predicted results amongst fans.”