PCB wants revenue share in Indo-Pak December series

Lahore: The much-anticipated Indo-Pak limited-overs series in December could face problems getting off the ground as the Pakistan Cricket Board is determined to get a share of the revenues generated from the matches.

A PCB official said that the board would soon take up the issue of revenue sharing with BCCI when discussions are held to work out modalities for the series planned in India. The BCCI has officially invited Pakistan for the series of three ODIs and two Twenty20 matches in December but dates and venues are yet to be finalised between the two Boards. It will be the first bilateral series between both countries since 2007 when Pakistan toured India. "The situation is that if the BCCI does not agree to a revenue sharing formula we end up losers and gain nothing financially from this series," the official said. He said till, now the BCCI had not given any commitment to even tour Pakistan or play a Pakistan "home" series at any neutral venue. "As things stand they say they will send their team to Pakistan when the security situation improves and that means no set deadline. They have also said they don`t want to play us any neutral venues," the official noted. "It is a positive thing they have invited us but unless there is some revenue sharing formula agreed upon we gain nothing from the series," he said. The official pointed out that India are yet to compensate Pakistan for a previous cancelled tour. "They didn`t come because the Mumbai incident had happened but after that also they have not responded to our proposals of giving us matches at neutral venues so that we can recoup some of our losses from that 2009 tour," the official said. The official said while PCB Chairman Zaka Ashraf was very keen to see the revival of bilateral ties with India but he was also firm that Pakistan needed to gain something out of the series for itself. "We need to gain something financially from the series or get a firm and written commitment from India to play us in a `home series` at a neutral venue of our choice," he said. He said the two boards would soon start discussing the modalities of the planned series. "Until that time we are committed to touring India but we also have to look at what we gain in the long run because we are not hosting international teams since 2009 and we are facing financial issues," he said. PTI