Earlier this year, the rights for the next cycle of IPL were sold. On the digital medium, Viacom 18 won the bid. They also won the bid for the overseas rights. However, this time around, South Africa will not have any broadcasters for IPL 2023. Here, we take a look at the reason why IPL is not live telecasted in South Africa.
IPL is not live telecasted in South Africa
In the past 15 seasons, SuperSport was telecasting the event. However, just before the tournament was about to start, the agreement did not reach a conclusion and hence, the fans will be without any option for IPL 2023 in South Africa. Basically, SuperSport was not able to strike a deal with Viacom18, which owns the rights.
As reported on ESPN Cricinfo, a spokesperson from SuperSport said, “Commercial discussions with the rights holder for the next cycle of rights have unfortunately been unsuccessful and SuperSport will therefore not broadcast the IPL as of this year’s edition.” That said, it won’t be a surprise if Viacom 18 strikes a deal in the coming days.
An important year for South Africans in the competition
This time, there would be two South African captains in the IPL. While Aiden Markram will lead Sunrisers Hyderabad, Faf du Plessis will be the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore. A lot of teams will have key performers who hail from the Rainbow Nation. Some of them include David Miller, Marco Jansen, Anrich Nortje, Quinton de Kock and Kagiso Rabada amongst others.
Considering nations such as Australia that have had a big influence over the IPL in the past, it will be important for South African cricketers to do well in IPL 2023. This way, more IPL franchises could invest in local South African talent. This has happened in the past with Australia and England.
