Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has now turned to gaming, with his strategic investment in Metasports Interactive, the company behind the viral mobile game Hitwicket.
Metasports Interactive was founded by Kashyap Reddy and Keerti Singh, and Hitwicket now boasts a 20 million+ user base across 120 countries. THE WEEK met Reddy on the sidelines of the Indian Game Developers Conference 2026 last week in Chennai for an exclusive interaction. "People spend more than 50 minutes on our game every day, which is 15 minutes more than what they do on Candy Crush," he told us last week while hinting that something big is on the way.
HitWicket already boasted names such as Harsha Bogle lending his voice to an AI-backed commentary that does a play-by-play while you game. "Traditionally, games have been like pre-recorded commentary lines being played over and over again, but actually using... the advent of AI, now we are able to tailor the commentary lines and generate them on the fly," said Reddy.
For Metasports Interactive, going the extra mile and putting India on the global map also means bringing in the right people. "I think assembling the Avengers-level team will be the biggest thing for us," Reddy said last week in Chennai. This week, he seems to have hit it out of the park by bringing in none other than Tendulkar.
"Hitwicket stood out to me for how it brings the strategic thinking behind cricket into the game. Cricket has always involved reading the bowler, assessing the field and deciding the right approach for every ball," Tendulkar observed.
"Hitwicket captures that decision-making, going beyond reflexes to recreate how a cricketer thinks in the middle. The game translates that strategic dimension into an engaging experience for players. I enjoyed playing the game, believe in what the team is building, and that makes the association feel natural," the global cricketing icon said during the announcement of his investment in Metasports Interactive.
Tendulkar coming on board is not just the key highlight of the Hitwicket maker recently. Earlier this year, in April, it bagged $20 million in user acquisition funding from London-based Metica.
Hitwicket launched its initial beta in 2020 and officially moved into full release by 2021. It goes head-to-head with industry giants like Candy Crush, which to this day demands a loyal following. But the makers of Hitwicket are not at all worried. In fact, they are confident the game will keep bringing in players.
"If you are a cricket game, I have no doubt that the market will always exist. The ball is in our court to make sure that we are living up to the standards... and if we do that, I think we are going to be one of the forever games," Reddy told THE WEEK.
