PCB hoping to earn profit from `home` series against Australia

Karachi: The Pakistan Cricket Board is expecting a profit of around Rs 450 million from its `home` series against Australia that is likely to be organised in the United Arab Emirates.

Although the Australians have expressed reservations over playing a series of three one-dayers and three Twenty20 matches in the warm months of August-September and are pushing for six T20s, a PCB official said profits can be netted if the series includes both formats. "We have started work on a series of ODIs and T20 matches even though the ICC at its meeting in Kuala Lumpur gave approval for having a six match T20 series," the official said. He said that initial estimates suggest that the series likely to be held immediately after Ramazan will earn the board approximately Rs 649 million. Expenditures for the Australian series have been estimated at around Rs 187 million if it is held in the United Arab Emirates. Pakistan has been forced to host all its `home` series abroad at neutral venues since 2009 when militants attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore and the PCB cites this as one major reason for its deficit budgets for the last two fiscal years. PTI