Ariana Television Network (ATN) has secured the rights to produce and broadcast an exciting new T20 domestic cricket league tournament that will be played in Kabul.

The new league, aptly named Kabul Premier League - or KPL2023 - will be played at the Ayobi Sports Complex and initially consist of five franchises. As with other leagues, each franchise will be required to participate in a draft process to secure players.

Teams will play through the season with the top four going through to the playoffs and then the finals. The number of teams could change in the lead up to the tournament.

Each team will comprise 16 players and the tournament will run for at least eight days in July each year.

In support of local cricket development, ATN is excited to have secured the rights to film, produce and broadcast this tournament, which is certain to help improve the skills of individual players.

The league will run from July 24 this year through to August 02. For the most part, two matches will be held a day and ATN will broadcast both.

This includes terrestrial broadcasts and digital.

Details around the full line up of teams and the broadcasting schedule will be published in the lead up to the start of the tournament but so far the franchises are Kabul Zalmi; Abasin Hunters; Pamir Stars; Shaheen XI and Shamshad Eagles.

Ariana Television and Ariana News will however keep all cricket fans up-to-date on tournament news.

This latest scoop is one of a growing list of exciting sporting events that ATN has lined up for its loyal fans and supporters.

Currently, the thrilling World Cup 2023 Qualifiers is being broadcast, with the final just days away. This after almost three weeks of exciting, world-class cricket.

The best is still to come

Next on ATN’s line up, after the inaugural Kabul Premier League, is the ACC Asia Cup tournament which is played in both white-ball formats - ODI and T20I.

This tournament will get underway in September and matches will be broadcast live.

Established in 1983 when the Asian Cricket Council was founded as a measure to promote goodwill between Asian countries, the first ODI edition of the competition was played in 1984 in which three teams – India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka participated. T20I was only introduced in 2016.

For this year’s tournament, the groups and format were announced on 5 January 2023, with the six teams split into two groups of three.

A total of 13 matches will be played, which includes six league matches, six Super 4 matches, and a final.

India, Pakistan and Nepal, have been placed in Group A, while the defending champions Sri Lanka are grouped with Bangladesh and Afghanistan in Group B.

The top two teams from each of the groups will progress to the Super 4. From there, the top two teams will play each other in the final.

The year will be rounded off with the all-exciting ICC ODI Cricket World Cup and once again, this tournament will be broadcast live by ATN.

This One Day International (ODI) tournament will see 10 countries battle it out for the trophy, which was last won in 2019 by England.

The tournament will be hosted by India in October/November.

England are the defending champions, having won the previous edition in 2019, defeating New Zealand in the final.

Cricket fans who haven’t yet tuned in to watch the World Cup Qualifiers however, still have time to catch up, so as not to miss a beat in ATN’s fabulous sporting extravaganza for its loyal viewers.