The Indian premier league (IPL) has taken the British market by storm on ITV.

Backed by effervescent programming anchored by Mandira Bedi, Itv seems to have broken all records in viewership of sports programming in England, said an official release on Wednesday.

Sources say that the first few days have beaten last years all time record. Itv's IPL ratings have gone 5 times over and the projection is its ratings will be 10 times over last year, apart from the regular programming on other channels; IPL clearly has emerged as a top sporting extravaganza on British television.

James MacLeod from ITV had to say this on the ovewhelemed response from viewers "We're delighted with the viewing figures for the IPL so far. The ratings for ITV4's coverage have been around seven or eight times those achieved by Setanta last year, and we're delighted to be bringing the competition to a wider audience."

Mandira could not hide her excitement when she heard this and said "To be accepted and to be a part of something which is so overwhelming is like a dream come true. I hope we continue to entertain and bring all the excitement of the IPL as it happens".

Back here in India Lalit Modi also expressed immense satisfaction on the way IPL has been accepted by the British audience. Modi said "ITV beats Sky Sports over the weekend in number of viewers. This is great going. The ITV numbers are double that of rugby league. This is huge by all imaginations. UK figures for viewership on ITV already 10 times that of last year. This is just fantastic news."

The biggest winner, it seems have been Mandira and ITV. While Itv has officially stated on their website "The Indian Premier League's decision to go free view in the UK on ITV's digital terrestrial channel ITV4 has paid off handsomely", the IPL's debut on ITV4 has been declared a hit, according to ratings figures released Monday.

It seems Mandira is already a household name in England.