Ten Sports, the number one sports channel for South Asians, will be the home for live cricket this August as India face Sri Lanka and South Africa in the Unitech Cup 2006 held in Sri Lanka.
The tournament begins on 14th August with the home side hosting South Africa and concludes with the final taking place on 29th August. The three sides will face each other twice in a round robin format with the top two going through to the final.
The host nation will be oozing with confidence following their 5-0 demolition of England in the ODI series earlier in the summer and their memorable 2-0 Test series victory over the Proteas earlier this month.
Meanwhile India will be looking to bounce back after their disappointing one day series in the Caribbean where much was expected from them but they were unable to deliver.
The South Africans have had a few months off prior to the Test series against Sri Lanka and although losing that series they will take heart from the way they pushed the hosts all the way in the second Test. And they will still have the memory of their last ODI match when they chased down a record 435 run target to claim victory over Australia.
Chris McDonald, CEO, Taj Television Limited, owners of Ten Sports said, "We are very excited to be able to broadcast another world class cricket tournament following on from the fantastic Test series between Sri Lanka and South Africa. The Unitech Cup has three of the top one day sides in the world competing and our viewers are guaranteed some extremely entertaining cricket over the next fifteen days."
In addition to the live coverage of the tri-series Ten Sports will also telecast its critically acclaimed studio show 'Straight Drive'. Joining regular host Sanjay Manjrekar will be South African legend Gary Kirsten, and former Indian Test batsman Arun Lal.
Asked about joining Ten Sport's Straight Drive team Kirsten said, "I am very excited to be joining the team. It will be my first time on Straight Drive and I couldn't have asked for a better series to be involved in."
The commentary team at the ground will include Pommie Mbangwa, Robin Jackman, Ranil Abeynaike, Ranjit Fernando and Tony Greig.
Matches one, two, five, six and seven are day-night matches with Ten Sports build up getting underway at 13-30 IST while matches three and four are day matches with build up beginning at 09-00 IST.
Match Schedule:
14/8/06 Monday
13:30 Straight Drive
14/8/06 Monday
14:30 Sri Lanka v South Africa (D/N) –Live
Premadasa ,Colombo
16/8/06 Wednesday
13:30 Straight Drive
16/8/06 Wednesday
14:30 Sri Lanka vs India(D/N)-Live
Premadasa , Colombo
19/8/06 Saturday
9:00 Straight Drive
19/8/06 Saturday
10:00 India vs South Africa (Day)-Live
SSC, Colombo
21/8/0 Monday
9:00 Straight Drive
21/8/06 Monday
10:00 Sri Lanka v South Africa- (Day)-Live
SSC Colombo
24/8/06 Thursday
13:30 Straight Drive
24/8/06 Thursday
14:30 Sri Lanka Vs India (D/N)-Live
Premadasa, Colombo
26/8/06 Saturday
13:30 Straight Drive
26/8/06 Saturday
14:30 India v South Africa (D/N)-Live
Premadasa, Colombo
29/8/06 Tuesday
13:30 Straight Drive
29/8/06 Tuesday
14:30 Final: 1st vs 2nd (D/N)-Live
Premadasa, Colombo
