Pak cricket ruin if India scraps tour

deepak pace

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Pak cricket faces ruin if India scraps tour
Karachi: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) could lose potential earnings of around $20 million if India cancel their tour starting next month, a cricket official said on Thursday.

"That is a lot of revenue involved for us in a series with India and it also directly affects the new deal we have signed for television rights," the official, who did not want to be identified, told Reuters. India's Test and one-day tour due to start in the first week of January is in serious doubt due to strained bilateral relations between the neighbours following last month's terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

With just 16 days left for the tour, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has said its government is yet to give clearance. PCB chief operating officer Saleem Altaf said Pakistan cricket was already facing a financial crunch due to the postponement of major events. "India's pullout would make it worse for us," he told Reuters.

"If there is no India series obviously we gain nothing from our new television deal and lose out on other sources of income as well."

The PCB recently signed a new television rights deal worth $140.5 million with the Dubai based Ten Sports. Pakistan have not played a single test this year and has been restricted to just 21 one-day internationals, mostly against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe as top teams have refused tour because of security concerns.
 
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