Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Faruque Ahmed said they are going through a 'tough time' after failing to sell media rights for the Bangladesh-Zimbabwe Test series and thanked the BTV for stepping in to telecast the first Test in Sylhet starting tomorrow.

The BCB had invited broadcasters to bid for the media rights of the two-Test series between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe on March 19 but no parties showed any interest as the deadline ended on April 7.

The board still tried to negotiate a deal with broadcasters but after failing to garner any interest, it requested state broadcaster BTV to telecast the match and it obliged.

"I think there is a financial lull in both domestic and international cricket… We are going through a bit of a tough time, it's taking some time after the change in government," Faruque told reporters at an event in Dhaka today.

"BTV will telecast it [Zimbabwe series], we are thankful to them. It was really difficult to get BTV's slot. Special thanks to the honourable secretary who is present here. We communicated with her from the board. Usually, you have to buy a slot from BTV. We are grateful to her. BTV will telecast it free of cost. At least, the match would reach the people.

Faruque also said that the board is still trying to telecast the match on a private channel, saying, "We are still in talks to get another channel on board. Even if we can't show this match, we will try to do it for the next game.

"There is also the matter of selling the media rights for the next two-and-a-half years. We have prepared a tender for it. We will invite proposals from international companies for it."