MUMBAI: Will it, won't it (Ten Sports)? Hold firm on the Pakistan cricket telecast rights issue that is.

Dubai-based Taj Television, which manages Ten Sports and holds telecast rights for Pakistan cricket, has so far resisted pressures from India's Prasar Bharati (managing Doordarshan and All India Radio) to get the matches telecast on DD as well.

 
But if the news emanating from Pakistan is anything to go by, day by day, that pressure is building. Chairman of Taj TV Abdulrahman Bukhatir today had a three-hour meeting with the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Shaharyar M Khan over what else but Indias forthcoming tour of Pakistan. PCB chief executive Ramiz Raja, Taj TV chief executive Chris McDonald, CBFS chief executive Zahid Noorani and PCB marketing consultant Riaz Mahmood were also present at the meeting.

According to a statement released the PCB, Bukhatir has been quoted as saying: "I assure the PCB of the sensitivity to the need for the people of Pakistan to which these matches on television in the largest possible numbers, and I assure that efforts are already well underway for PTV to carry the signal."

The question of course is if the matches can be shown on PTV, what happens if DD also demands the same "courtesy". Stay tuned for more on the high-stakes game that is being played out over this issue.