For the upcoming exciting series between the hosts India and visitors England, the Sky Sports might not broadcast the series.
Star Sports has the global rights of India cricket to broadcast all of India’s matches. The channel is negotiating with Channel 4 and BT Sport for TV rights while keeping the communication channel open with Sky. The iconic Test Match Special (TMS) have lost out the radio rights for the series to talkSport.
It is believed it is not due to the lack of interest on the series, but Sky Sports believe the price they have demand is too high. The Test Match Special bid on competitively but eventually lost the talkSport. TMS is part of Radio of BBC and it has engaged with some of the greatest commentators of the game. So the loss is obviously a big one for the channel.
“It will be a big loss for BBC for losing out on these rights. There is a big Asian and Indian population in England and they will be interested in the India-England series. Test Match Special has done well over the years but talkSPORT is doing well too lately by fiercely bidding for cricket rights,” Derek Pringle, former England all-rounder
Meanwhile, the commentary team of the India-England series was announced. Darren Gough, Mark Nicholas, Mark Butcher, Matt Prior, Steve Harminson and Alex Tudor along with Akash Chopra and Kevin Pieterson. Former England batsman Kevin Pieterson, however, will commentate only for the Test series.
Sky Sports regular commentators Nasser Hussain and Mike Atherton will not be the part of the commentary team given that deal haven’t done.
English and Hindi commentators have been named already for the first two Tests. The English commentator team includes Sunil Gavaskar, L Sivaramakrishnan, Harsha Bhogle, Murali Kartik and Deep Das Gupta along with Nick Knight and Butcher joining them as experts.
As for Hindi commentary, VVS Laxman, Gautam Gambhir, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra are named and all the commentary teams will have to go for a six-day quarantine report.
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