The India-Pakistan T20 World Cup 2021 match in Dubai recently, etched its name in history books as it became the most viewed T20I match of all time. This was also the first time that Pakistan defeated India in T20 World Cup history.

The encounter will now go into history as most-watched with a record reach of television reach of 167 million and record consumption of 15.9 billion minutes in India on the Star India Network. It broke the record of the previous high of the India-West Indies semi-final match from the 2016 edition of the ICC event held in India.

The overall TV consumption for the full tournament in India was recorded at 112 billion minutes, despite India's early exit from the tournament. Viewership share amidst younger audiences in India (children below the age of 15) was at a healthy 18.5 percent at the back of a highly successful marketing campaign "Live the Game" targeting a younger demographic.

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In the UK, viewership for the India v Pakistan match grew by 60 percent on Sky UK whereas the overall viewership for the market went up by 7 percent.

The ICC-Facebook partnership proved to be a game-changer in video views with a total of 4.3 billion views across all channels for the tournament, compared to 3.6 billion views that were garnered for the 2019 edition of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup.

The consumption across ICC's digital assets also grew, recording a total of 2.55 billion minutes.

ICC CEO Geoff Allardice said: "We are pleased with these outstanding global viewership numbers, that demonstrate the power of T20I cricket to attract a huge audience across the globe on linear and digital platforms. It reinforces our belief that there is a significant opportunity and appetite to grow the game in our strategic growth markets including the USA, so more fans can enjoy it, more kids are inspired by it, and sponsors and broadcasters want to be a part of it."

(ANI inputs)