Asia Cup to be telecasted on nine channels

What’s happening?

The biannual Asia Cup 2018 is expected to be bigger and better this year as after the success of the 2018 Indian Premier League, Star Sports, the official broadcaster has decided to telecast the marquee event on nine dedicated channels- Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 Hindi HD, Star Sports Select, Star Sports Select HD, Star Sports 2, Star Sports 2 HD & Star Sports Tamil.

The broadcasters have previously used this strategy during the 2018 Indian Premier League where games were broadcasted in five different Indian languages- Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, and Bangla on ten channels with the final between Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad broadcasted on seventeen different channels.

However, the Asia Cup Qualifiers preceding the main tournament (September 15 to 28) will not be telecasted in India where six teams in UAE, Nepal, Hong Kong, Oman, Singapore and Malaysia. The Qualifiers will be played out in Malaysia with the top two teams progressing to the main draw.

In case you don’t know…

From 1984 to 2014, Asia Cup was traditionally played as a 50-over tournament but since 2016, the tournament has been re-branded according to the upcoming ICC event. In 2016, with the World Twenty20 coming up, the tournament was played in a T20 format with India edging out Bangladesh in the finals. This year, though, with the focus on the impending 2019 World Cup, the tournament will return to its traditional form with hosts India going as the most successful side (6 titles, 5 ODIs and 1 T20). India will resume their rivalry with neighbours Pakistan on September 19th in what is expected to be a riveting encounter following India’s 180-run humbling in the Champions Trophy Final last year.