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Karachi: The Pakistan Cricket Board has been forced to undersell its "home" One-day series against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi and Dubai next month due to paucity of interest from prospective sponsors.
The PCB announced on Monday that it had finalised the title sponsor and a co-sponsor for the series of three One Day Internationals and two Twenty20 matches but didn't give out details of the financial aspects of the deals.
Reliable sources, aware of the deal, said that the PCB had kept a reserve price of $600,000 for the title sponsorship and $300,000 each for two co-sponsors slots.
"Unfortunately the best offer for the title sponsorship that PCB got was just between $180,000-200,000 while it sold one of the co-sponsors slot for $125,000 which are both well below the reserve price kept by the PCB," one source disclosed.
He said due to paucity of time for the series which starts November 3, the board had not option but to undersell the sponsorship rights as they were not getting bids even close to the reserve price.
The title sponsorship has gone to a tissue and napkin manufacturer and the co-sponsorship to a bank.
"You have to understand no one is really keen on a series involving New Zealand," one board official said.
The PCB was forced to shift the series to Abu Dhabi and Dubai because of security situation at home due to which the Kiwis refused to tour Pakistan.
