One of the most anticipated clash of the cricket World Cup created quite a flutter on the idiot box as 257 million fans tuned in to watch India beat South Africa for the first time in the 50-over showpiece event.

One of the most anticipated clash of the cricket World Cup created quite a flutter on the idiot box as 257 million fans tuned in to watch India beat South Africa for the first time in the 50-over showpiece event.

The game, which the Mahendra Singh Dhoni's side won by a big margin, was the second most watched television event in India in the last four years since the finals of the 2011 World Cup. The highest watched was the Indo-Pak game that garnered the most TRPs as the blockbuster clash attracted 288 million viewers.

The India-South Africa match rated 12.9 TVR across Star network including DD, with 10.5 TVR on Star network and 2.4 TVR on DD (All TAM data M15+ ABC).

The joy of beating the Proteas was amplified for 76 per cent of the 257 million viewers as they tuned into the India-South Africa game in their preferred language feed in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada.

The English feed contributed remaining 24 per cent of the total viewers for the game.

"The viewership for India's first two games of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 bears testimony to the cricket frenzy sweeping the nation. The fans, with their undiminished support for Team India, have been treated to some quality action and results of choice. The World Cup in regional language articulated by former India players has taken the viewer experience to the next level.

"Our efforts of bringing the fans closer to the World Cup experience through a host of innovations have borne fruit and they continue to rally to Team India's defence of its title," said Sanjay Gupta, COO Star India.

The flagship ODI tournament has remained true to its billing of the most exciting cricket extravaganza drawing 473 million (TAM data CS4+ extrapolated to the universe using a standard conversion factor) fans to tune in to watch the action.

The clash between two favorites, India and South Africa for the 2015 edition also sizzled across social media -- with 175,000 unique authors driving 254,000 conversations -- dominating the trends for the day.

Star had extended its popular and disruptive 'Mauka' campaign to build anticipation ahead of the South Africa game, releasing a new promo under the fan passion theme, #maukepechauka, which was trending through the day in India.

PTI