'Paaji Well Played': Gautam Gambhir Reveals Reality Behind Viral Video of Kapil Dev’s Abduction - WATCH

The cricket fans were taken aback when they saw legendary Kapil Dev getting abducted in a viral video on Monday. The video, which was largely shared on social media, showed a couple of goons dragging Dev into a house with his hands tied and mouth covered.

Meanwhile, former India opener Gautam Gambhir also shared the video clip asking if the person in the video getting abducted is Kapil Dev, hoping for the well-being of the 1983 World Cup-winning skipper.

“Anyone else received this clip, too? Hope it’s not actually @therealkapildev and that Kapil Paaji is fine,” Gambhir posted on microblogging site X (formerly Twitter).

But a day later, Gambhir revealed what the video actually was. It was a Behind the Scenes clip of a Disney+Hotstar advertisement which says that the World Cup 2023 games will be streamed for free. Gambhir further lauded the acting skills of Kapil Dev.

“Areh @therealkapildev paaji well played! Acting ka World Cup bhi aap hi jeetoge! Ab hamesha yaad rahega ki ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup is free on @DisneyPlusHS mobile,” Gambhir posted on Tuesday.

After the Asia Cup, Disney+ Hotstar is set to stream the upcoming ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup for free on its mobile app. To recall. The showpiece event will be held in India from October 5 to November 15.

Disney+Hotstar’s user base has witnessed a steady drop. As reported by Reuters, it had the largest user base last year but the user count began to decline in March 2022, resulting in a hefty $41.5 million loss for the company. The user base dropped by about 25 per cent between October and July of the same year, forcing the company to seek ways to become profitable again.

With the streaming rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the world’s richest cricket league, in the bag, Disney made cricket on Hotstar a paid service in 2020 and was confident about garnering up to 100 million users within years.

As per Reuters, making cricket free on mobile will help “450 million-plus customers to tune in” over 48 days of the 50-over World Cup that is being hosted by India, compared to 300 million in the last World Cup in 2019, stated a “Festival of Cricket 2023” Disney presentation created for advertisers and seen by Reuters.

The company is eyeing a new record of 50 million concurrent viewers during the World Cup, double the 2019 number, the document added. That will also be 56% higher than what Ambani’s JioCinema clocked during this year’s IPL finals in May.

(With Reuters Inputs)