Following on from TalkSport’s hugely popular coverage of England Cricket’s Sri Lanka tour last year, the station has now acquired the exclusive rights for England’s tour of India in 2020-2021. They will be broadcasting every ball of the tour which will include all T20s, ODI’s and Test Matches against the team which is standing at the numero uno position in the ICC Rankings.
It means the BBC’s flagship cricket programme Test Match Special will miss out on another series, having this winter gone without any live coverage of England games for the first time since 2004-05. England’s trip to South Africa, scheduled for November and December of this year, also falls under the remit of TalkSPORT.
This also means the station will now exclusively broadcast all of England’s major overseas tours until 2021. England cricket legend and TalkSPORT presenter Darren Gough said: “Watching India’s performance against Australia has whetted my appetite for when England tour India in 2020 & 2021. It will be a fascinating contest and one of England’s greatest challenges. Joe Root’s England are on a high and if they can secure a series win in India it will take them to a whole new level.”
ALSO READ: Jio TV Gets The Streaming Rights For Team India’s Home Games
Darren Gough, Mark Nicholas and Matt Prior overlooked the TalkSPORT coverage from Sri Lanka last year, while Sky Sports regulars including David Lloyd made guest appearances on the broadcasts.
National Radio Controller of talSport Liam Fisher said: “After broadcasting England’s comprehensive series wins out in Sri Lanka, it’s great to follow this up with winning the rights to one of the best series in the cricket calendar in India. With exclusive coverage of West Indies and South Africa over the next 14 months we will continue to provide excellent ball-by-ball coverage for cricket fans.”
According to the ICC’s Future Tours Programme, England will play three one-day internationals and three T20Is in India prior to the 2020 World T20, before returning in January 2021 for a five-Test series.
