It isn’t just the start of a season of another T20 league but it is the start of another T20 league altogether. Yet another shot by CSA (Cricket South Africa) at having a T20 competition of their own has all the ingredients with respect to them getting their act together perfectly this time round.
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Although no association plans a tournament of this level with an intention to fail, CSA can’t err on this occasion because a lot has been satisfied and a lot is at stake for the sport in the country. Hence, as cliched as it sounds, failure is not an option for former South Africa captain and SA20 Commissioner Graeme Smith.
Backed by host broadcaster SuperSport, this mini-version of Indian Premier League will kick-start with MI Cape Town taking on Paarl Royals in a historic tournament-opener at Newlands tomorrow. Much like these two teams, remaining four of a six-team SA20 2023 are also owned by owners of IPL franchises.
A 33-day inaugural season will witness teams playing each other twice on a home-away basis. 30 league matches will be followed by a couple of semi-finals to decide the two finalists. Readers must note that SA20 2023 fixtures comprise of nine double-headers.
SA20 2023 Live Telecast Channel in India and UK
It was roughly six weeks after the auction for the first season of SA20 that the organizers had achieved success in sealing a game-changing 10-year broadcast deal with Viacom18 for the Indian market. Exclusive rights in India will further add value to Viacom’s sports catalogue which also consists of digital rights of Indian Premier League.
As far as the exact television channel for Indian audiences is concerned, Sports 18 will be televising all the 33 matches of SA20 2023. Jio Cinema, meanwhile, will be live streaming these matches in India.
Unlike Viacom, Sky Sports signed a broadcast deal for cricket fans in the UK only last week but the same is another fantastic development for the first season of a tournament which has a lot of high-profile English cricketers.
Date – 10/01/2023 (Tuesday) – 11/02/2023 (Saturday).
Match start Time – 05:o0 PM and 09:00 PM (India) and 11:30 AM and 03:30 PM (England).
TV Channel – Sports 18 (India), Sky Sports (UK) and SuperSport (South Africa).
Online platform – Jio Cinema (India), Sky Sports app (UK) and ICC.tv (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Caribbean, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan and US).
