PCB fails to earn Rs 700m during India ODI series

Karachi: The Pakistan Cricket Board has failed to realise earnings of approximately Rs 700 million (USD 6.7 million) which it expected to collect from its short limited over series in India last December and the proposed Super League T20 tournament.

According to reliable sources, the matter came up for discussion at Saturday`s meeting of the Governing Board which was informed about the shortfall in earnings in the annual budget. "The PCB was expecting to earn and clear a shortfall of around 700 million rupees from the one-day series in India and the PSL but in both cases it ended up earning nothing," one source said. He said that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) refused to share any revenue from the limited over series which was the first bilateral contest between the two nations since 2007 and was held in India. Then the PSL, announced with much fanfare, also fell through in the tenure of former Chairman of the board, Zaka Ashraf due to different reasons. Interestingly, Zaka Ashraf also didn`t press the BCCI for any share in the revenues from the series and made statements to the effect that for Pakistan improving ties with India and resuming bilateral cricket ties was more important than money. "Instead of earning from the PSL the board ended up spending on the preparations for the PSL and setting up the PSL secretariat which included consultancy fees to Haroon Lorgat and salaries to the Managing Director of the league (Salman Butt) and other employees in the secretariat," the source said. The Governing Board has approved a provisional budget of around 3 billion rupees (USD 29 million approximately) with a deficit of rupees 500 million for the year 2013-14. The approval came after a delay of around two months because of the PCB matters going into the Islamabad High Court which later in a judgment declared the election of Ashraf as null and void but also ordered restrictions on the working of Najam Sethi. The court has ordered the PCB to have fresh elections for the Chairman`s post in 90 days time and around 30 days have already passed. The source said that the provisional budget approval, however, came as a relief for contracted players who have not been paid their monthly retainers for two months because of the budget not being approved. "Since the Governing board had approved a 15 percent hike in monthly retainers of the contracted players their payments were held up due to the budget," the source said. The budget hasn`t offered a hike for the PCB employees. Another source in the PCB said that the board was hoping to overcome the budget deficit from earning some profits from the coming "home" series against South Africa and Sri Lanka in the UAE. "The ground and title rights have already been sold for USD 1.3 million while the sale of broadcasting rights for the two series should also bring in more revenues," the source said. Pakistan will also have a strong source of earning from participating in the Asia Cup and the ICC World T20 Cup in Bangladesh while in early 2015 it will get share from the ICC World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. The source admitted that the PCB`s financial health was tight due to refusal of international teams to tour Pakistan since 2009. "But we are managing as the Chairman Najam Sethi has also ordered to curtail expenses and we now rely heavily on the ICC shares," he said. PTI