Pakistan vs England Test series in October faces TV blackout, PCB issues statement

England’s tour of Pakistan is racing against time to find a TV broadcast partner. According to reports, the series hasn’t found any taker for the TV rights. This has prompted the Pakistan Cricket Board to issue a short statement to the media regarding the situation. 

The statement by the Pakistan Cricket Board read, “Broadcasters not coming forward does not mean that discussions with broadcasters are not ongoing. Discussions are underway to telecast the series in England. There are still seven weeks left before the first Test against England starts, we are hopeful that people in England will get to watch the series.”

It is to be noted that the current series against Bangladesh has also being broadcasted. Many fans have had to rely on cricket websites and social media updates to know what is happening in the first game of the two-match series. 

Reason revealed behind potential broadcast blackout

UK’s major newspaper the Guardian put out a report recently where it stated that Pakistan’s Cricket Board has sent out invites to many UK Broadcasting companies. SKY Sports has rejected the bid as they are eyeing some of the major ICC events. Event TNT Sports has distanced itself from making a bid for the series. 

The last time England had toured Pakistan they had won the series 3-0. Ben Stokes and his men had outplayed the hosts using their aggressive Baz-Ball brand of cricket to complete a series whitewash. 

Meanwhile, there was controversy brewing in Pakistan Cricket on Thursday. Mohammad Rizwan was batting close to his double-century mark before the innings was declared. Skipper Shan Masood while speaking to the media at the end of the day issued a statement. 

Shan Masood said, “See, as far as Rizwan bhai's double century is concerned, I don't think there was a haste in deciding to declare the innings. Because Rizwan bhai was told an hour before that we would be declared at this point. So, he had an idea of when we would declare. He was told we would try to near 450 before declaring”

Bangladesh in their reply had scored 214/4 from 71 overs with Shadman Islam scoring 93. Former skipper Mominul Haque scored 50 before he became one of the two wickets of the day for Khurram Shahazad. Mohammad Ali and Naseem were the other wicket-takers for Pakistan with one wicket apiece.