KARACHI, May 2: The three-match one-day cricket series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, scheduled to commence in Abu Dhabi from 8th of this month, has been postponed until May 18th, it was learnt on Wednesday.

According to the Pakistan Cricket Board, the matches would now be played on May 18th, 20th, 22nd as the Sri Lankans had requested for a some rest for their team following their long campaign in the World Cup.

However, well-informed sources said that the Abu Dhabi Cricket Council was still struggling to host the hastily-arranged series since they were not yet able to get full sponsorship of the event.

"The organizers’ expenses in staging the three-match series are coming to around $2.4 million while the money promised to them from the sale of television rights and other sponsorship agreements is only two million dollars," a source said.

He said the organizers had sold the title sponsorship and other advertisement rights for 1.2 million dollars but were still negotiating with some Pakistani channels for the sale of terresterial and sattellite television rights as no international broadcaster had shown interest in the series.

"The organizers are even ready to go ahead with the series if they break even but that has not happened so far," the sources added.

Our Correspondent from Lahore adds: The Abu Dhabi authorities communicated the new dates to the PCB on Wednesday.

PCB chief operating officer Shafqat Naghmi confirmed the schedule when contacted: “Yes the dates have been changed.”

He said the delay might have been caused since the Sri Lankan team had been stranded in London on their way back to home after playing the World Cup final.

Meanwhile, PCB media director Dr Ahsan Hameed Malik added the PCB was still waiting to receive a memorandum of understanding (MoU) from the host.

The series could only be confirmed after receiving the MoU, he said.