Pakistan’s legendary batsman Javed Miandad believes that a high-level investigation needs to be initiated after it was revealed that the Pakistan Super League (PSL) live streaming rights were granted to a foreign betting company.
The 62-year-old told Express News, a Pakistan TV News channel based in Karachi, “There should be a high-level investigation into the fact that PSL’s live streaming rights were granted to a betting company. All parties involved need to be on the same page during this process. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) should learn a valuable lesson from this experience,” Miandad said. “The issue of a betting company receiving live streaming rights for the PSL in three seasons from 2019 to 2021 is a matter of grave importance. The whole world has legalised betting whereas that is not the case in Pakistan.”
“PSL is a national event. The contract between the PCB and the live streaming company is very important. There is an urgent need for an investigation. The PCB cannot conduct this investigation by itself.” he said. “We will have to wait and view the details of the case in order to see if this act was done on purpose or by a mistake. If it becomes clear that the PCB was aware that the rights were being granted to a betting company then the PCB will be guilty and deserves to be punished accordingly. On the other hand, if it is proven that the PCB was not aware of this fact, then it is a big blunder on their part.”
In response, the PCB said in a statement: "The Pakistan Cricket Board categorically denies and rejects the assertion that it entered into, or allowed any of its commercial partners to enter into, any contract or agreement for betting rights with any entity whatsoever.
"The facts are HBL PSL's live-streaming rights outside Pakistan were granted pursuant to an international tender to an international company for three HBL PSL editions from 2019 to 2021. The global media rights partner, without following the due approval process, awarded the live-streaming rights to a betting company. As soon as the matter came to the PCB's notice, it immediately took it up with the media rights partner and correspondence in this regard is ongoing.
"When a newspaper approached the PCB for comment last week, the PCB presented the facts which were, however, not reported accurately."
John Stephenson
john@cricketinvestor.co.uk
