ITV has acquired the rights to cricket's Indian Premier League.

The broadcaster will show the games live on ITV4 and is planning to show all but one of the 60 matches as one of the games on 4 April will clash with British Touring Car Racing.

This will be the first time that live cricket has been shown on terrestrial television since England's Ashes win in 2005, as Sky Sports has had a monopoly on live cricket since that date, something that will contunie until 2013. It is also the first time that ITV has shown live cricket for 20 years, the last time being when Yorkshire and Granada used to show coverage of Roses Match games between Yorkshire and Lancashire.

ITV is believed to have paid a nominal fee for the rights, which have been available since Setanta closed down last summer. Matt Smith will host the coverage alongside Bollywood actress Mandira Bedi.

Commenting on the deal, ITV director of digital channels and acquisitions Zai Bennett said: "In only two years, the Indian Premier League has already established itself as one of the world's most high-profile and exciting sports events which attracts some of the very best cricketers from around the globe. It is an exciting acquisition for one of the UK's fastest growing digital channels and we're delighted to be able to offer the whole tournament free-to-air to our viewers."

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