"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

sportskeeda.com:

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.

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