CHENNAI: Pakistan’s ODI series against Australia, which began on Friday in Sharjah, will not be telecast for Indian audience as Sony Pictures Network (India) has cited “scheduling issues” as a reason.
This comes days after the Pakistan government issued a directive that no IPL matches will be aired in the country after D Sport abruptly boycotted Pakistan Super League following the Pulwama terror attacks.
After the attacks, D Sport, which had acquired the rights for telecasting PSL in India, boycotted the tournament. Even IMG-Reliance, which was handling the television production, pulled out midway through the event after citing national sentiment as a reason. A cricket website had also taken down scorecards of PSL.
While the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has not issued any directives to any channel to not air any matches involving Pakistan, a SPN spokesperson told this newspaper that the channel had not slotted the Pakistan-Australia series for Indian audiences because of “scheduling issues.”
However, SPN — which has 10 channels under its umbrella, including five HD ones — didn’t have any live programming till late on Friday evening. The channel currently has European qualifiers slotted in its schedule, although most of the matches commence after the game-time scheduled for the Pakistan-Australia clashes.
SPN — which has broadcast deals for bringing home live cricket from South Africa, Zimbabwe, England, Australia and West Indies — has been one of Pakistan Cricket Board’s longstanding partners, with their current deal running till 2020.
Brief scores: Pakistan 280/5 in 50 ovs (Haris Sohail 101 n.o, Umar Akmal 48) lost to Australia 281/2 in 49 ovs (Aaron Finch 116, Shaun Marsh 91 n.o).