Bangladesh v India: ODI matches in danger of not being broadcast

Indian team under Suresh Raina is scheduled to play 3 ODI matches at Dhaka, Bangladesh

With the Indian selectors opting to rest the senior players and the matches clashing with the FIFA World Cup timings, the 3-match ODI series between India and Bangladesh, starting from June 15, is in danger of not being broadcast.

According to the latest reports, Bangladesh’s Gazi TV that owns the broadcasting rights for the bilateral series is not able to come to an agreement with any of the Indian broadcasters, thereby not enabling them to telecast the matches in India. While Star Sports made a nonviable offer, Sony have expressed no interest, as they have the Brazil World Cup matches lined up and hence find no time slots.

Star Sports offered only five crores for the three matches, and that offer didn’t go well with the broadcasters.

Salahuddin Chowdhury, CFO and head of operations of Gazi Group, said: "Star has offered a less than million dollars for three matches. That is too less in comparison to the cost of the rights. Because of the BCCI's problems with Neo (Sports) and Ten (Sports), we can't sell the rights to them. Unless, something dramatic happens over the next two days, I cannot assure you that the matches will be telecast in India.”

"We've lined up broadcasters in virtually all parts of the world except India," Chowdhury added.

India have sent a second-string team to Bangladesh, resting the likes of captain MS Dhoni, vice captain Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, to keep them fresh for the all-important England tour that starts next month.

"There would be a lot of overlapping time between the World Cup matches and ODIs," Prasanna Krishnan, the chief executive of Sony Six, told the Mirror. "We've a planned a few pre-match shows for the World Cup and we could not have spared our channel for cricket."

Nitin Kukreja of Star Sports said: "We don't have the rights of the series."