Carmaker Skoda has officially launched its ‘Single Wicket’ marketing initiative in India, in which it is organising cricket competitions for 100,000 schoolchildren.
The company is running competitions children in U12 and U14 age brackets based on a shortened form of the sport that will involve two players competing against each other in a six-ball/one-over game. Winners in different cities will compete in a national final in Mumbai next year. Finalists and national champions will be awarded cash prizes of up to Rs1m ($14,000).
The company is pitching the initiative as “a nationwide hunt to find the next generation of budding cricketers in the U12 and U14 categories”. It started in July, will run until August 2020, and will involve 5,000 schools in 50 cities.
Zac Hollis, director of sales, service and marketing at Skoda Auto India said: “This first-of-its-kind nationwide talent search programme is an innovative exercise to reach out to our customer, transcending geographies, and, who knows, in doing so we may discover India’s next-gen cricketing stars.”
