Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan on Wednesday said that the broadcast rights issue will not be a hindrance for the proposed India-Pakistan cricket series and exuded confidence that the two boards will sort out the matter soon.
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The revival of Indo-Pak cricketing ties has hit a roadblock after differences emerged between PCB and the Board of Control for Cricket in India over broadcast rights issues, in particular the PCB's association with Ten Sports.
Reportedly, the BCCI has reservations with Ten Sports as the broadcaster for the proposed India-Pakistan series in the United Arab Emirates which is owned by Subhash Chandra, who recently was in the news over his alleged efforts to create a rival create league including leading players from around the world to give competition to the Indian Premier League.
Asked if it would be a hindrance for the proposed series, Khan said: "No. I must explain that we will be dealing with the issue in the next few weeks and hopefully we will find a resolution to that."
The proposal to revive Indo-Pak cricketing ties also faced opposition from political leaders with former home secretary and Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Bihar's Arrah, RK Singh, raising the issue in the Lok Sabha during zero hour on Tuesday.
"It is not so much with the Government of India. It is the BCCI and the broadcasters. We will jointly try to overcome it and I'm hopeful we can," Khan said.
The proposed full fledged series, which will involve three Tests, five One-Day Internationals and two Twenty20s, is part of a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two Boards last year and will be hosted by Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates.
Talking about the MOU, Khan said: "India used to be hestitant in coming to UAE for the matches but ever since they had their IPL in UAE, I think their reservation have been resolved.
"Therefore, the MOU, clearly says that the first series will be hosted by Pakistan in UAE and BCCI agreed to that," he told a television channel.
Currently in India, Khan had a series of meetings with BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya, Union Minister Arun Jaitley and BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur during the past few days.
"I met Jagmohan Dalmiya in Kolkata; yesterday I met Arun Jaitley, today I met Anurag Thakur. After meeting all three, I feel we are on the right track and hopefully Indian government will give its permission too," Khan said.
Since 2007, India have not played a proper bilateral Test series with Pakistan mainly due to political reasons, particularly after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks which led to suspension of cricketing ties.
The two countries played one short series of three ODIs and two T20 matches in India in December 2012 but otherwise they have only faced each other in ICC organised events or the Asia Cup.
