Hitwicket World Championship 2023 will be the first international strategy-based independent Cricket eSports tournament
30 teams globally will compete for their share of INR 2,25,000
India’s highest-rated Cricket Strategy Gaming app, Hitwicket Superstars has finally released the event schedule of the highly anticipated Hitwicket World Championship set to feature a massive prize pool of INR 2,25,000 & is the biggest strategy-based, independent Cricket eSports tournament ever witnessed in the history of mobile gaming. In fact, the Hyderabad-based gaming studio has managed to carve out an inspirational benchmark with its prize pool, attracting top esports aspirants and millions of cricket fans from across the globe.
The virtual tournament will commence on 23rd March with the rigorous election process to choose the top 30 Hitwicket Teams that will be battling out for the lucrative cash prize. The response to the initial announcement has been massive with over 30,000 teams registering to participate in the elections.
Hitwicket World Championship is the only eSports tournament that will involve participation from users across all levels. This democratic flavour is ensured through a methodical electoral system, wherein users can vote to choose managers for a particular city. Furthermore, they can scout players i.e. In-game characters for playing on the squad of their chosen city offering them a chance to win a portion of the prize pool.
As a part of the tournament, Hitwicket has introduced a tier-based PvP Reputation system to categorize users based on their skill set in multiplayer matches. Different ranks will indicate the caliber and prowess of the users dealing with an increasing level of toughness. The PvP Reputation System will offer users a way to showcase their skillset in the multiplayer mode, aiming to climb up the leaderboards. Upending the global trend, more women have shown interest in the tournament with 22% of the registrations being from female players. Evidently, the metros such as Chennai and Mumbai seem to be leading the path with 37% of overall registrations followed by Delhi, Hyderabad, and Bangalore. It is interesting to note the significant share of 18% of International registrations from England, Australia, Pakistan and other cricket-loving countries.
Event Schedule and Structure
Hitwicket World Championship will run from 23rd March’23 to 16th April’23 with teams from India, England, Australia, UAE, and Pakistan competing in daily matches to win the prize money. The online tournament will be Live streamed on the Hitwicket YoutTube channel with replays archived for audiences who wish to watch them at a later stage.
A total of 10 cities will be represented with 3 managers per city chosen through a streamlined voting process scheduled to take place between March 23rd to 26th 2023. This will be followed by a group draw and player scouting between March 27th to 31st 2023. Please find below the entire schedule and details for each stage:
● Group Stage: April 7-14th 2023
10 cities will be split equally into Group A and Group B for the determination of Winner and Loser brackets through Intra-group matches. A total of 20 matches will be played amongst teams for the course of one week with the top 2 winning cities from each group proceeding for the playoffs.
Playoffs: 15th April 2023
The playoffs will comprise 2 Qualifiers & 1 Eliminator round. Qualifier 1 will have the top cities from both groups competing to move to the next qualifier round. Teams which secured a second position from both the groups will play the Eliminator round of which the winner will move to Qualifier 2 and play against the losing team of Qualifier 1. The winner of each qualifier will directly proceed to the grand finale.
● Grand finale: April 16th 2023
The winners of Qualifier 1 and 2 will compete against each other in a grand finale themed on the format of the Indian Premier League play-offs.
Prizing Details
The total Hitwicket World Championship 2023 prize pool amounts to INR 2,25,000/- which will be distributed amongst the winners based on their final ranks on the leaderboard. Additionally, users whose chosen players competed being on the squad of the winning cities get to take back home INR 50,000/- i.e. a portion of the total cash prize.
Supporting Quotes
Kashyap Reddy, Cofounder, Hitwicket
“We are thrilled to announce the first-ever edition of the Hitwicket World Championship in 2023. This is the first of many eSports tournaments coming from Hitwicket this year. All of them are expected to follow a similar league structure that will take place around the year, with the final major event taking place around the ICC Cricket World Championship. With this tournament, the aim is to build India’s first independent cricketing esports tournament and provide a platform for cricket fans to showcase their strategy skills and cricket knowledge. We are passionately working towards creating the first ever 1st Mobile eSports IP from India.”