Once again, the PCB expectations for the sale of international media rights were not met. This time, the offer was even half of the previous canceled bid, and even a former ICC official couldn't work any magic.

Details reveal that a few months ago, the Pakistan Cricket Board set an unrealistic reserve price of approximately 21 million dollars for a 3-year international media rights deal. A consortium of a Pakistani media group and a private company participated in the bidding. Foreign companies, Willow and Sports Five, also took part in the process.

Sports Five submitted the highest bid of 7.8 million dollars, the Pakistani companies bid around 4.1 million, and Willow bid was 2.25 million. With no bid matching the reserve price, the board asked the participating parties to increase their offers and conducted a second round of bidding. In the second round, Sports Five did not increase its previous offer of 7.8 million.

The Pakistani companies doubled their bid to approximately 7.85 million, winning the bid, but the PCB again rejected all bids as none reached the reserve price. Subsequently, a retendering occurred only for the home series against New Zealand and the women series against the West Indies. The winning joint bid of both Pakistani companies was 99 thousand dollars (approximately 27.6 million rupees), while Willow bid 75 thousand and Sports Five bid 50 thousand.

Recently, the PCB once again attempted to sell international media rights for the 2024-26 3-year period. During this period, the Pakistan team will play 61 matches, including 11 Tests, 26 ODIs, and 24 T20s.

Even with the assistance of former ICC commercial manager Campbell Jamieson, the board expectations could not be met. IMG submitted a conditional bid, while the joint bid of a Pakistani media group and a private company was around 3.5 to 4 million dollars. Thus, the PCB ended up with a bid 50% less than the previously rejected offer.