Associated Press

New Delhi, February 22:

The Pakistan cricket team’s tour of India could be delayed if a court battle over television broadcast rights is not resolved quickly, India’s top cricket administrator said on Tuesday.

Pakistani cricketers are due to arrive in India on February 28 to play three Tests and six one-day internationals. The dispute, involving the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and a private television channel, Zee Telefilms, has been pending in Madras High Court since last October.

Zee Telefilms has accused the Indian cricket board of reneging on a $308 million deal under which it was to be given the sole right to televise Indian cricket matches. “Since the television telecast rights issue is before a court, the BCCI on its own cannot do anything in the matter,” the Press Trust of India news agency quoted BCCI president Ranbir Mahendra as saying.

He said the cricket board could ask the court this week to settle the issue quickly to avoid postponement of the India-Pakistan series. Last September, the cricket board granted Zee Telefilms the right to broadcast matches played in India for four years. But the agreement was challenged by rival bidder ESPN-STAR Sports, which said Zee should not have been allowed to bid because of its lack of experience in broadcasting international cricket. The cricket board subsequently cancelled the tender process. Zee has called the cancellation illegal.

The dispute put Australia’s tour of India in jeopardy last October, but the Supreme Court allowed the Indian state-run broadcaster Prasar Bharti and private television channel Sony Entertainment Television to broadcast the series.