Even after going back in time, one is highly unlikely to remember any instance of two separate T20 leagues starting with their inaugural seasons in the same week. Merely three days after the start of SA20 2023 in South Africa, ILT20 2023 is all in readiness of starting in the UAE.
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Another six-team T20 competition, International League T20 will become the fifth such tournament to run concurrently with the likes of SA20, Big Bash League, Bangladesh Premier League and Super Smash. A first-ever case of these many league being played at the same time calls for cut-throat competition of the highest level for everyone involved namely leagues, television channels and most importantly, the viewers.
In terms of opportunities, ILT20 is an alluring competition for overseas players because a maximum of nine cricketers can be part of a Playing XI in this tournament. A 31-day tournament will comprise teams playing each other twice before an Indian Premier League-style four-match knockout round to be played between February 8-12.
ALSO READ: Where to watch SA20 2023 in India and UK?
Unlike SA20, not all teams of ILT20 are owned by IPL franchises. While Dubai Capitals, Abu Dhabi Knight Riders and MI Emirates are sister concerns of IPL franchises, Sharjah Warriors, Gulf Giants and Desert Vipers don’t have any IPL background. It would be quite a month or so for fans of Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals as they have a couple of leagues to follow simultaneously.
International League T20 2023 Live Telecast Channel in India and UK
International League T20 will mark the comeback of Zee Entertainment Enterprises into the cricketing arena after a few years. Zee, who even had a broadcast deal with the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) at one point in time, will be both televising and live streaming the inaugural season of ILT20 for the Indian audiences.
“At Zee, we are delighted to be the official global media rights holder of UAE’s T20 League. We believe the League, which is already attracting the biggest cricket stars and team franchisees, will provide fantastic cricket and entertainment to viewers across the world,” President, Business, South Asia, Zee, said in an official statement.
An all-encompassing approach will witness Zee broadcasting all the 34 matches of the tournament on a plethora of television channels like &PicturesHD, Zee Zest, Zee Zest HD, &FLIX, &FLIX HD, Zee Cinema, Zee Cinema HD, Zee Cinema Hindi, Zee Bangla and Zee Thirai. All the matches will be have commentary options in English, Hindi, Bengali and Tamil.
A comeback for ZEE in the day and age of streaming platforms will be a debut for ZEE5 with respect to streaming live cricket in India (also available in the UK). As far as the television audiences in the UK are concerned, they will have to tune in to BT Sport to watch ILT20 2023 matches.
Date – 13/01/2023 (Friday) – 12/02/2023 (Sunday).
Match start Time – 03:30 PM and 07:30 PM (India) and 10:00 AM and 02:00 PM (England).
TV Channel – Zee Network (India) and BT Sport (UK).
Online platform – ZEE5 (India & UK) and BT Sport app (UK).
