Zimbabwe Cricket yet to resolve rights issue, puts India series in doubt
The TV rights didn’t come up during Zimbabwe’s recent tour of Pakistan as both share the same broadcaster, Ten Sports. (Source: FIle Photos)
India’s tour of Zimbabwe seems doubtful with the hosts confirming there are issues that still needed to be resolved. On Friday The Indian Express had reported that the tour was under cloud owing to persisting problems between the host broadcaster, Ten Sports, and Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC). A day later, the ZC issued a statement insisting they were hopeful that the issue will get resolved soon.
The statement said that ZC chairman Wilson Manase and chief executive officer Wilfred Mukondiwa will try to find a solution through discussions with their counterparts in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on the sidelines of the International Cricket Council (ICC) annual conference, scheduled to be held in Bridgetown, Barbados, from June 22-26.
“If the matters take too long to resolve, ZC and the BCCI might mutually agree to push the tour to next year,” the ZC chairman is quoted as saying in the release.
India were originally scheduled to play three ODIs and two Twenty20 International matches during the tour that was set to start from July 7.
Regarding the BCCI’s claim that there was difficulty in getting visa on arrival for the players, the ZC chairman said it wasn’t possible since the local immigration officials had not even been approached since the two boards are yet to sign a memorandum of understanding for the tour. “Cricket is a national sport and ZC enjoys a cordial relationship with all relevant government offices so the acquisition of visas is not an issue. The substantive issues are what we will discuss in Barbados,” Manase said through the statement.
