DSport and Neo Sports will broadcast Hong Kong T20 Blitz

The Hong Kong T20 Blitz is all set for its third season. After a successful tournament in 2017, the cricket league is set to be back this year. Five teams will be taking part in the league this year which is to be played from February 6 to February 11. The tournament will be held over six days at Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground in Mong Kok.

Also, this year each team is permitted to have six overseas players. Out of these six, five of them can take the field. The remainder of the squad of 16 will be picked from Hong Kong’s best domestic talent. The format of the tournament is round-robin and then the finals. It has the reputation of fielding some of the best players. Global TV sports producer and distributor, Sunset+Vine, and China Cricket International, the organisers of the Hong Kong T20 Blitz.

The 2017 event was highlighted by the signing of ICC World T20 winning Captain Darren Sammy, Kumar Sangakkara, Misbah-ul-Haq, Ian Bell, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Chris Jordan. Kowloon Cantons defeated City Kaitak in the final with Hong Kong’s own Babar Hayat upstaging the overseas talent by winning the player of the final award.

TV Broadcasters confirmed

Headline players for the 2018 tournament include Sangakkara, Sammy, and Sohail Tanvir. Also, there is an international commentary panel including the likes of Dean Jones, Alan Wilkins, Chris Rogers and Gautham Bhimani.

The India broadcast rights for the tournament will be shared between Neo Sports and Discovery Communications India’s DSport. BT Sport (UK), Fox Sports (Australia), OSN (Middle East), Neo Sports (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh), ESPN Caribbean, DSport (India) and Chinese-owned StarTimes (Africa) have secured media rights for the five-team tournament featuring Galaxy Gladiators Lantau, HKI United, City Kaitak, Kowloon Cantons and Hung Hom JD Jaguars.

Moreover, the tournament recorded 11.8 million views on Facebook and YouTube over the five days in 2017. It also obliterated the first year’s 51,000 over two days and the anticipated target of 1 million. Over 8.4 million of those views were live during the coverage. The remaining 3.4 million watched the videos on demand. Also, a majority of the viewers were from India.

The partnership with Sunset+Vine will enable the tournament to produce its highest quality broadcast production to date. Further, Cricket Hong Kong Director Jonathan Cummings said that they try to raise the bar every year.

Sunset+Vine Executive Producer Huw Bevan seemed happy to be associated the T20 blitz. He said that they will give their best to the tournament. He promised 11 exciting, top-notch matches to the fans.

“We will draw on our extensive cricket experience to produce a dynamic package which will allow cricket fans to enjoy 11 matches of top-class action and firmly place this tournament on the cricketing calendar and Hong Kong as a leading cricket destination in the region,” he added.