KPL 2017 be telecast on Star Sports

Witnessing the gigantic success of Indian Premier League (IPL) and its effectiveness in unearthing hidden gems, few state boards have started their own IPL-style franchise based leagues. Leagues like Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) and Karnataka Premier League (KPL) are already running, while joint secretary of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), Sourav Ganguly is planning to launch a similar league in West Bengal.

The recently concluded edition of TNPL was a massive hit and one of the prime reasons for its success is the quality of telecast. TNPL was telecasted in Star Sports, and with many technically advanced systems of coverage super slow-motion and ultra slow-motion cameras, fans got to witness the action very closely. The good news for KPL followers is that now Karnataka’s T20 league will also be enriched with such advancements.

The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) has signed a deal with Star Sports. The channel will telecast the tournament that will begin on September 1 and will be played across Bangalore, Hubbali and Mysuru. The tournament will be aired both on SD and HD channels, with Star Sports 1 and Star Sports HD1 being the channels to telecast the live action. Besides this, fans will also be able to catch the live action in Hotstar, the mobile platform of Star group.

“Star Sports is excited to partner with the Karnataka State Cricket Association for KPL. This tournament, over the years, has served as a cradle of high-quality T20 talent and has thrown up several cricketers who’ve gone on to succeed in India’s premier T20 competition and even represent the Indian team. This is in line with our strategy to build a sporting culture by taking India’s favourite game deeper, turning the spotlight on emerging talent and investing in serving quality Cricket to fans round the year,” said Sanjog Gupta of Star Sports, as quoted by mykhel.com.

“Star Sports has always set the standards for sports broadcasting in the country, and we at the KSCA are delighted to have them on board for the upcoming edition of the KPL. I’m sure this partnership will take this tournament to greater heights,” said KPL governing council member Vinay Mruthyunjaya.

Commentary panel will have foreign greats

Besides good match coverage, another important aspect of TNPL’s success was that its commentary panel boasted of former overseas legends like Matthew Hayden and Scott Styris. This year, KPL will also follow the same path. Former legends Brett Lee, Michael Hussey, Daniel Vettori and Dean Jones will be present in the commentary box. The Indian counterparts of the foreign stars will be Venkatesh Prasad, Sunil Joshi, Fazal Khaleel, Charu Sharma and VB Chandrasekhar. Famous anchor Mayanti Langer will be the hosts of pre-match and post-match shows, alongside Sanjana Ganesan.