Viacom18 Sports, India’s newest sports network, announced a 10-year partnership to exclusively present SA20, South Africa’s recently launched premier T20 league, in India.
The SA20 and Viacom18 will work closely to grow and engage cricket fans in India. South Africa’s strong cricket roots, domestic set-up and popularity of its players with Indian fans will enable SA20 to stand out among other international T20 leagues. South Africa and India have a long and storied cricket relationship that this partnership will further strengthen while bringing high-quality T20 action to Indian fans.
The league features six teams playing each other twice in a round-robin stage before the semis and final. In all, 33 matches will be played over four weeks starting January 10, 2023. The six teams – Joburg Super Kings, Pretoria Capitals, Durban’s Super Giants, Sunrisers Eastern Cape, Paarl Royals and MI Cape Town, are owned by groups that have teams across various global leagues including the Indian Premier League.
“T20 is the most popular cricket format with Indian fans. The history and legacy of South Africa cricket and the popularity of South African cricketers in India make it a thrilling proposition for cricket fans in India. We expect significant viewership and fan engagement as the event will be played in prime-time,” said Viacom18 Sports CEO Anil Jayaraj.
The inaugural SA20 auction in September saw over 100 players signed by the six teams. Teams could sign up a maximum of ten South Africans and seven overseas cricketers in their squad. For every match, each team will be allowed to have up to four overseas players in the XI. All teams have also opted to sign up one uncapped, young player.
The SA20 will see international superstars like Quinton de Kock, Faf Du Plessis, Kagiso Rabada, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Rashid Khan, Jos Buttler, Eoin Morgan, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Liam Livingstone, Maheesh Theekshana, Jason Holder in action.
Viacom18 recently announced that JioCinema will live-stream all the matches and offer curated content around the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™. The world’s greatest show, the football World Cup which happens once in four years, will be exclusively presented on JioCinema and Sports18 platforms from 20th November through 18th December.
