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New Delhi, May 31: Indian cricket fans today
heaved a sigh of relief after the BCCI hammered out last-minute
deals for the telecast of Afro-Asia Cup and off-shore one-day
internationals in Europe in June July. The BCCI roped in
ESPN-Star Sports to telecast the AAC series from June 6 to 10 a
day after the deal between Asian Cricket Council and Nimbus, who
held the entire rights for the matches, fell through. Nimbus,
however, came to the rescue of the BCCI by bagging the telecast
rights for the four ODIs against South Africa and Ireland
between June 26 and July three.
The matches were originally to be shown by
Zee who scrapped their four year agreement, worth USD 200,000,
for India's matches in neutral venues. The ACC today said it
ended its deal with Nimbus as the latter failed to fulfil their
contractual obligations. "They did not fulfil their contractual
obligations... But it is always painful to terminate contracts,"
ACC CEO Syed Ashraful Huq told PTI over phone from Kuala Lumpur.
The Afro-Asia Cup, featuring three ODIs
besides a Twenty-20 international each between the men's and
women's teams, is to be played in Bangalore and Chennai. The
tournament had lost its sheen due to pullout of big stars and
industry insiders say this could be one of the reasons for
Nimbus' loss of interest in the event. Nimbus offered to pay the
BCCI, USD 24.20 million for telecast of the four off shore ODIs
in Ireland and Scotland.
Zee failed to pay the stipulated amount by
May 28, BCCI Vice President and Marketing Committee head Lalit
Modi announced at a media conference in Mumbai. India are to
play three ODIs against South Africa (on June 26, 29 and July 1)
and against Pakistan (on July 3). (Agencies)
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