Karachi: Not impressed with the remuneration offered to their players, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is having second thoughts on playing a three-match one-day series against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi next month.

Well-informed sources in PCB said Pakistan had given its confirmation for the series slated from May 9 but it was being paid just $500,000 as appearance fee by the Abu Dhabi Cricket Council (ADCC).

“The $500,000 is much lower than teams are normally paid for such off-shore tournaments which are not part of the International Cricket Council (ICC) future tours programme,” one source said.

He said normally organisers pay between $750,000 and 800,000 for such off-shore events.

“The strange thing is that the Board has a standing offer from the Cricketers Benefit Fund Series in Sharjah to give its availability for any event in return for an appearance fee of around $750,000. So why the PCB should agree to a much lesser sum is a mystery,” the source said.

He said the ADCC was facing financial problems and had with much difficulty managed to schedule the series after getting confirmation from the Sri Lankans.

“The interesting part is that the ADCC is also facing problems selling the television rights of the series because an individual from Karachi who runs a private company and sublets television rights has already defaulted on the first instalment of his payment,” the source said.

The source clarified that whether Sri Lanka win the World Cup final on April 28 will not have any bearing on the commercial viability of the series. (PTI)