IPL 2023 official TV broadcaster Star Sports found itself in the middle of a social media whirlwind after one of its pre-match shows did not go down well with the fans. The show aired ahead of the all-important Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Royal Challengers Bangalore match, was titled 'Hot or Not'. Mayanti Langer during the 'Hot or Not' IPL pre-match show

The show featured four female anchors of Star Sports including Mayanti Langer, one of the most famous sports presenters in the country. The show was hosted by Suren Sundaram and also featured Bollywood actor Vidyut Jamwal. While actors featuring in a pre-match cricket show is nothing new and neither is some light-hearted off-the-field content but fans were left fuming by the subject matter of the show on Thursday.

Right from its name to the projection, everything seemed a bit too much for a cricket show. Top cricketers like Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill and Andre Russell's shirtless photos were flashed on the screen and the female anchors were asked to swipe right or left based on their hotness quotient.

The female anchors including Mayanti did play a sport but they appeared a tad uncomfortable during some parts of the segment. Moreover, it left a bad taste in the mouth of ardent cricket followers who did not expect this kind of content ahead of an IPL match.

Here's how Twitter reacted to Star Sports asking female anchors including Mayanti to rate cricketers ‘Hot or Not’

As far as the match between RCB and SRH was concerned, the Bangalore-based franchise took a big step towards ensuring a playoff berth by registering an emphatic 8-wicket victory over the hosts at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad.

Virat Kohli's sublime sixth IPL century and RCB captain Faf du Plessis' rich vein of form outdid Heinrich Klaasen's century. His superb 104 off 51 balls went in vain as Kohli (100) and du Plessis (71) cracked a brilliant 172-run opening stand that motored Bangalore to 187-2 with four balls to spare.

Klassen’s maiden century in T20s singlehandedly anchored Hyderabad to 186-5 with Harry Brook adding the second-best score of 27 not out off 19 balls.

The win shot Bangalore to No. 4 in the points table with 14 points and raised its hopes of going through the playoffs with its last league game against already qualified Gujarat Titans still in hand.

It was the first game in the history of the IPL where centuries were scored from either side with Kohli’s sixth hundred in the world’s lucrative domestic cricket league overshadowing Klassen’s dominant performance.

“Quite special (hundred) considering the magnitude of the game,” Kohli said. “I don’t give myself enough credit sometimes for playing impact knocks, I take pride to play the situation.”

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