"We are confident that bringing gaming and cricket together will lead to never-seen-before engagement and experience": Dipesh Agarwal, Co-Founder and COO, Rooter 

Unlike football, cricket never really managed to capture the esports market. However, that scenario is quickly changing as Rooter and 1XBet recently hosted the biggest Real Cricket tournament in the country, the Independence Cricket League, which commenced at the same time as the Asia Cup 2022, with a vision to spread cricket fever online to match the offline excitement.

The Independence Cricket League concluded yesterday, 11 September 2022, with Team Bangalore Superboys emerging as the winner. In conversation with Sportskeeda Esports’ Debolina Banerjee, Dipesh Agarwal, Co-Founder and COO of Rooter, talked about the esports scenario of the country, the Independence Cricket League, and more.

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Rooter's contribution towards inculcating cricket in the current esports scene of the country

Q. India’s esports scene is gradually developing and is beyond restricting itself to just battle royale games. How does Rooter create a gaming experience built on the confluence of content and cricket in the esports arena?

Dipesh Agarwal: Typically, battle royale and first-person shooter games have dominated the esports industry, and this is the case on our platform as well, where BGMI, Free Fire, and Call of Duty Mobile attract major participation and viewership.

Esports and game-streaming – our two key business segments – have contributed tremendously to our growth, and we are well on track to hit $10 million in annual recurring revenue by October 2022.

Amid such a growth trajectory, we have also identified that it is necessary to develop scalable esports opportunities beyond battle royale and first-person shooter titles to unlock new potential for the business sector. Considering how cricket-crazy the country is, we feel this is one big opportunity area that can be encashed well.

Cricket has not received enough traction through esports, and we want to be the ones to deliver the most engaging format that can draw mass interest. We have kickstarted that through our Independence Cricket League.

Launched to coincide with the Asia Cup, the tournament is our first step towards creating attractive IPs. We now plan to host a Real Cricket tournament every time India plays. Next on the cards is a massive tournament in October which will be launched as the backdrop of the T20 Men’s World Cup.

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Q. FIFA has seen significant growth in the recent past when it comes to esports, and Real Cricket has its fair share of competition in mobile sports games. How is Rooter poised to replicate FIFA’s success in cricket in India by making it one of the most loved, played, and watched esports games?

Dipesh Agarwal: Much like football, cricket is an extremely well-loved sport globally. What FIFA has been able to do successfully is stoke and feed the fan experience across esports, allowing their audience to enjoy the sport in multiple ways and round-the-clock.

As an erstwhile sports fan engagement platform, Rooter already has deep experience in building such community experiences for fans through live-content creation technology. Now, we want to focus on building interesting franchise format-based tournaments that deliver exciting gameplay experiences in power-packed settings where passionate fans can root for their favorite players.

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Q. Do you think Real Cricket could someday match the popularity of immensely famous battle royale games like BGMI and Free Fire?

Dipesh Agarwal: Real Cricket is one of the most well-made sports games and has a fast-growing fan base. For a title to become an esports success, it not only needs to score on the popularity scale but should be played in an exciting and competitive format that people enjoy watching.

So far, no one has figured out the right format for cricket-based esports tournaments, which is what we want to develop. With over 800 million fans, cricket is practically a religion in this country. We are confident that bringing gaming and cricket together will lead to never-seen-before engagement and experience.

We want to create such solid IPs for esports that they start attracting 50 million views in the next two to three years, akin to what battle royale tournaments attract at this point.

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Q. The Independence Cricket League is one of the biggest Real Cricket tournaments so far. Can you tell us more about it?

Casters for the Independence Cricket League (Image via Rooter)

Dipesh Agarwal: The Rooter Independence Cricket League, powered by 1XBet, has seen twelve passionate teams competing against each other for a grand prize of INR 5 lakhs.

Comprising leading game-streaming influencers and pro players, the tournament had an eclectic mix of franchises like Ahmedabad Avengers, Bangalore Superboys, Delhi Demons, Chennai Champs, Hyderabad Hawks, Kolkata Warriors, Kochi Knights, Lucknow Legends, Mumbai Vikings, Punjab Panthers, Pune Pitchers, and Rajasthan Rebels.

Popular Hindi commentator Akash Chopra also regaled our viewers with his inimitable style, contributing to the live-match experience.

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Q. How has the feedback from the gaming community been to the Rooter-1XBet Independence Cricket League? Are you happy with the viewership it has garnered?

Dipesh Agarwal: The feedback and viewership has been terrific so far. We clocked close to 15+ million views from the tournament. We also expect to start tracking 25 to 30 million views from such tournaments by the time the ICC Men's T20 World Cup happens in October.

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Q. Since LANs are back on the scene after Covid-19 restrictions, is Rooter planning to host an offline esports tournament any time soon?

Dipesh Agarwal: We are always looking for exciting opportunities to host offline tournaments. We are currently in discussions with multiple gaming publishers to bring back LAN tournaments in India from November onwards.