India’s favourite sport runs in the DNA of every Indian. Even if some of us are not a fan of cricket, we’d enjoy our country playing for the world cup, or just playing an India vs Pakistan match. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 has officially started and the most entertainment you can get out of this game is by watching it with family or friends (or both) on a big TV and cheering for the country. But it may be the case when you’re stranded with work at office or don’t have access to a TV.
Unlike IPL, you cannot have the convenience of watching the World Cup on YouTube live. That is because Star Sports have the official broadcasting rights. You cannot live-stream the match on any website or application other than the official Star Sports application/website.
Here are some ways you can still catch-up with world cup on your smartphone:
Live-stream Matches On Hotstar Application
hotstar is right now the top application on Android Play Store that can be used to watch the match live, free of charge. Owned by Star Sports, hotstar also lets you watch full length movies and some sitcoms. There are no annoying sign ups but there are ads which cannot be skipped. The video quality is decent if you are on a high speed connection and there is no way you can select a quality manually. There is a known bug where it doesn’t resume the playing video when you multitask and it will land you to homescreen. That aside, this is the only way you can stream the match on your smartphone.
Watch The Matches On StarSports.com
Another option is to watch the matches on StarSports.com, but it maybe a pain if you have a slow phone (Here’s how to make your Android phone faster!). We would recommend not to watch without a WiFi network as the data charges on 3G will be a lot!
Live Scores Notifications
If you are on a 2G network or you cannot live stream for some reason – livescore notifications are the way to go! Applications like Hike will send you real time scores notifications in form of chat. These chat will be cleared once the match is over and you automatically get notifications for the next match, until you unsubscribe. CricBuzz is very famous app that provides scores. In fact, it is the same service that works with Hike to provide their notification cards. It has a beautiful widget that provides updates right on your homescreen. ICC’s official application – ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 provides features like live commentary on demand and match highlights.
Get Continuously Notified By Google Now/ Google Now Launcher
Google Now offers notifications about your favourite team’s matches and scores. The best thing is that it also syncs to your wearable, so you can have score notifications right on your wrist! All you need to do is go to Google Now, Select the Hamburger Menu or swipe from left > Customize > Sports > Add a team > Type India Cricket Team and you’re all set to receive notifications about upcoming matches and scores. It will also show articles and videos from the game.
Google Now does a great job at notifying, but Cortana will also predict who will win the game! Try asking her if you have a Windows Phone 🙂 You can also join into conversation with millions watching the match. Search for the trending topic – #CWC15 during the match.
Got some more apps that you find more convenient? Do let me know in the comment section!
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