But the board, who are looking for more lucrative candidates for the TV rights, gave a lukewarm response to the leading Asian sports broadcaster's desire of winning the bragging right for a second successive term.

"We have received a letter from the ESPN-STAR Sports today. But my first reaction about the content of the letter is that it is unfriendly," said BCB CEO Mahmudur Rahman without elaborating.

"Over the last many months we have communicated to BCB our strong interest to renew the existing agreement. We wish to continue playing the role of a catalyst for the cricket's growth in Bangladesh as we look forward to move into the next phase of our relationship with the BCB. We look forward to negotiations starting soon in accordance with our contractual terms," said ESPN-STAR Sports executive vice-president Manu Sawhney in a statement.

Rahman also said that they have already completed the groundwork for an open tender, which is likely to be circulated in the second week of this month.

"Other TV broadcasters from around the world have shown enormous interest in us and I think we will be able to strike a deal by the first week of November," said Rahman during an iftar party hosted by GrameenPhone at a posh city hotel yesterday.

BCB's marketing committee chairman Aziz Al Kaiser Tito, who was also present at the iftar, said that they were expecting much higher offers than they had received from ESPN-STAR.

"We are expecting to strike a TV deal not less than 100 million dollars," said Kaiser.

The board earned 11.5 million dollars from the first five-year deal that they first struck with WorldTel before ESPN-STAR took over for the same amount.