PCB promises ‘top-quality’ broadcast coverage of first Test between Pakistan and Bangladesh

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) promised on Wednesday to provide fans “top-quality” broadcast coverage of the upcoming Test match between Pakistan and Bangladesh, which will be played in Rawalpindi later this week.

In a press release issued today, the board said that the match would be broadcast on Ten Sports through 23 high definition cameras, one of which would be ultra-high-speed while two would be super slow-motion. The production will include the Decision Review System (DRS), hawkeye ball-tracking as well as ultra-motion and stump cameras.

Commentators would include Ramiz Raja, Danny Morrison, Shamim Chaudhary, Bazid Khan and Athar Ali Khan.

The first of the two Tests matches — which is also the first ICC World Test Championship fixture — between Pakistan and Bangladesh will begin on Friday in Rawalpindi. The Bangladesh squad arrived in Pakistan earlier today for the second leg of the bilateral series, which includes its first Test match in the country since 2003.

Richie Richardson, who will return to Pakistan after nearly three years, has been appointed as the match referee, while Nigel LIong and Chris Gaffaney will be the on-field umpires. South African Marais Erasmus has been appointed as TV umpire while Shozab Raza will be the fourth umpire.

Richardson had last visited Pakistan in September 2017 to officiate three ICC World XI Twenty20 Internationals, which were played in Lahore. Llong will visit the country for the first time after 2009, when international Test cricket was abandoned in Pakistan due to a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team. Llong was the on-field umpire during the ODI series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in January 2009.

Gaffaney and Erasmus will be touring Pakistan for the first time.

Bangladesh were originally scheduled to play three Twenty20 Internationals and two Test matches, but agreed to split the tour into three phases because the team did not want to stay in Pakistan for a longer duration due to security concerns.

Pakistan won the T20 series 2-0 last month at Lahore, with the third game abandoned because of rain.

Bangladesh is the second Test country to tour Pakistan since the resumption of international cricket.

In December, Sri Lanka toured the country for 16 days and played Test matches at Rawalpindi and Karachi.

It was the first Test series in Pakistan in more than a decade after an attack on the Sri Lanka cricket team bus at Lahore killed eight people killed and injured several players.