MUMBAI: Micro-blogging social network Twitter is bidding for the digital rights for Indian Premier League, the Board of Control of Cricket in India’s marquee event, joining a raft of corporate heavyweights from broadcasters to telecom behemoths.“We are constantly evaluating opportunities around the world to transform the live sports experiences for fans in partnership with our most valued global sports partners and this IPL tender purchase is representative of that,” Aneesh Madani, Head of Sports Partnerships at Twitter India, told ET.Twitter currently has a partnership with the NFL , wherein fans can go to tnf.twitter.com to watch Thursday Night Football live for free this season and participate in real-time, public conversation around the game right there from Twitter.“Cricket fans watch the IPL with Twitter and love tweeting about it. Globally, there were more than 10.6 million tweets related to the IPL in 2016, a 56 per cent increase over 2015 and nine out of ten Twitter users in India are fans of cricket. At Twitter, we see this interest growing and are excited to continue working with long standing partners like the IPL to build a global, mobile fan base for cricket in the years to come," Madani said.ET had earlier reported that 16 companies, including Star India, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN), Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEE), Amazon India, Reliance Jio, ESPN, and a clutch of international broadcasters have already picked up the rights. BCCI CEO Rahul Johri told ET that the board is “very happy” with the response it has received from the potential bidders, while refusing to disclose total number of buyers or their names.“All the major players from across geographies have picked up the tender document,” Johri said.“This will be a completely transparent auction.” While the TV rights are for 10 IPL seasons (2018-2027), digital rights are for five years each. Experts believe that while Star and Sony are likely to be the only two major players fighting for the TV rights of the tournament in the subcontinent, with the entry of players like Amazon, Twitter and Reliance Jio, the digital rights for league can go through the roof.