Sunday, August 02, 2009

India vs New Zealand 2009 Live on Different TV Channels

(This entry was originally posted on Monday, February 23rd, 2009)

Indian cricket team is now in New Zealand on a full-fledged cricket tour during which India and New Zealand play 2 Twenty20 matches, 5 ODI matches and 3 test matches against each other. Ahead of the much-awaited tour, which begins on 25 February with the first Twenty20 international going underway, cricket fans of both countries are now excitedly waiting to see some bone chilling matches between the two elite nations world cricket. Dhoni-led India is full of confident on the back of some dominating performance over the last six months, while Daniel Vettori’s New Zealand is looking to get the best out of home condition against visiting Indian team.

India’s record on New Zealand soil has never been impressive over the last few decades. Last time India toured New Zealand in 2002-03 season, India lost the two-match test series by 2-0 without scoring 200 runs in any of their four innings in the test series, which was followed by a humiliating 4-1 defeat in ODI series at the hands of the host side. Even the previous of 1998-99 was not impressive anyhow as India lost the three-match test series 1-0, but could able to draw the five-match ODI series 2-2 with a match being abandoned by rain.

Well, the positive side of the current Indian team is that they have been in winning ways over the last few months and defeated mighty Australia in test series convincingly at home, followed by another highly successful home series at home. Recently, India demolished Sri Lanka 4-1 in the ODI series on Sri Lankan soil. Some of their key players like Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ishant Sharma are currently playing at the top of their form and India is now hoping to gain the no. 1 spot in ICC ranking both in test and ODI form of cricket.

New Zealand, on the other hand, is not very much close to their best form at this moment, even though their recent performance against arch rival Australia is pretty much satisfactory. New Zealand cricket is yet to come to terms with the retirements of some key players like former Captain Stephen Fleming, Nathan Astle, Chris Harris, Chris Cairns, and they are currently missing the star players like Shane Bond who are playing for Indian Cricket League (ICL).

So, you do not need to be an cricket expert to understand the fact that the current New Zealand team is not anywhere close to a team they were 2-3 years ago. New Zealand’s performance in 2008 was not something impressive too. Having said that, they showed considerable sign of prospect in their recent tour of Australia. In fact, some of the young players like Tim Southee, Martin Guptill, who got century in his ODI debut against West Indies in January, Ross Taylor and Peter Fulton showed glimpses of their talent in Australia. Still, in terms of squad strength, I would keep India ahead of New Zealand for the seemingly exciting cricket series coming up next.

Well, New Zealand will also have some advantage over Indian team. First of all, the home condition will definitely favor the Kiwis and they are expected to get the most out of this advantage if they are to continue their dominance over Indian team at home. Another thing is that most of the current members of Indian squad have no prior experience of playing in New Zealand. So, adapting to the cold weather and seaming condition of New Zealand may not be very easy for the Indian young players. This could be a factor for the series. However, Indian players can feel themselves lucky considering the fact that winter is just going over in India at this moment and this would help the players to adapt to the New Zealand condition better; but if India did have to tour New Zealand in May or June, they could have faced a more intense situation. Overall, you can see that both teams have their strong and weak sides to reckon ahead of the series and herein lies the indication of some exciting moments of cricket in the upcoming series.

I know many cricket fans are now desperate to know which television channel will telecast the New Zealand vs India cricket series 2009 live in different parts of the world. Here, I am giving you a list of television channels where you can get to enjoy live action of the cricket series between India and New Zealand:

Sony Entertainment Television in India

Sony Entertainment Television holds the official telecast right of the series. In fact, Sony has secured the TV rights of New Zealand Cricket (NZC) for a whopping $US50 million, and thus, Sony will telecast the series live for Indian cricket fans in any of its channels like Sony Entertainment TV, SAB TV or Set MAX. So, Sony is one of the most popular private television channels with millions of audience across the country. Moreover, Sony has previous experience of covering elite cricket events like ICC World Cup. So, you can expect world class coverage for India’s tour of New Zealand 2009 on Sony television channel.

Doordarsan in India

Doordarsan is the government-owned terrestrial channel in India. As per the law of Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India), Doordarsan (DD) has the right of receiving live feed of all the cricket matches involving India from any television broadcaster. So, Doordarsan is expected to show the live action of the series, specially Twenty20 and ODI matches on its DD Sports television channel for the Indian cricket fans. However, nothing has been confirmed yet about Doordarsan’s coverage of New Zealand-India cricket series 2009.

Sky Sports Television Channel in United Kingdom, Ireland, Scotland and Other European Countries

If you are currently in Europe and do not want give a miss to any of the matches of the series between India and New Zealand, then the channel you should look out for is Sky Sports TV channel who holds the official broadcast rights of the series in United Kingdom, Scotland, Ireland and other European countries. So, European cricket fans can watch the matches live on Sky Sports television channel.

Super Sports TV Channel in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Rest of Africa

Super Sports has secured the TV rights of India-New Zealand cricket series 2009 in African region including the cricket playing countries like South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya etc. The matches will be telecast live in different channels of Super Sports including Super Sports 2, Super Sports5, Super Sports 6 etc.

Fox Sports TV Channel in Australia

Australian cricket fans can watch the exciting matches between India and New Zealand live on Fox Sports television channel which is one of the most popular television channels in the country. So, Australian fans are expecting good quality coverage of the series from Fox Sports television channel.

Sony SET MAX in New Zealand

MAX television channel is one of the TV channels of Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI). Though it mainly well-known for movies, it sometimes broadcast special events like ICC Cricket World Cup. The same way, Sony SET MAX is going to provide New Zealand cricket fans with live coverage Twenty20, ODI and Test series between New Zealand and India.

DIRECTV in U.S.A and Canada

DIRECTV holds the television rights of India’s tour of New Zealand 2009 in U.S.A and Canada. Considering DIRECTV’s relationship with CBN Canada, it is expected that the matches could be telecast live on CBN Canada television channel. DIRECTV has also secured the telecast rights of IPL, ICC Champions Trophy, Twenty20 World Championship etc.

Arab Digital Distribution (ADD)’s Pehla & Firstnet Platform in Middle East and North Africa

Middle East and North African cricket fans can watch the India-New Zealand cricket matches live on the Pehla & Firstnet Platforms of Arab Digital Distribution (ADD). ADD is, in fact, the largest pay TV platform in the region. The exciting matches of the series will be telecast live on Pehla Gold, Pehla Silver & Firstnet Premium platforms.

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