PCB presents Rs10.6 billion budget

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board Thursday presented Rs10.6 billion deficit budget before its general council members.

The members demanded through a resolution adopted unanimously to elect Najam Sethi as the new PCB Chairman.

The Annual General Meeting of PCB was held at a local hotel on Thursday.

COO Subhan Ahmad, CFO Badar Manzoor and other leading officials were present at the meeting.

The AGM expressed its desire to see Sethi take over the office once Shaharyar Khan’s tenure ends in August.

The AGM also unanimously adopted a resolution for recommending Pride of Performance Award for the services rendered by Sethi for successful organisation of PSL.

The AGM also approved the associate membership of Chaghi and Pakpattan.

PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan gave a detailed account of the board’s previous year achievements and future plans.

He was full of praise for Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan and said a ceremony would be organised to honour Misbah, Younis and Shahid Afridi.

He said replacement of Misbah would be named before the test series against Sri Lanka in September.

He said that the performance of the team with the white ball was not good but it was improving. “They have won the ODI, T20 and Test series at a time when international cricket is not being played in Pakistan,” he said.

He said that every effort was being made to bring international cricket to Pakistan.

He said High Performance Centres have been established at Karachi and Multan and are operational. “By the end of the year, similar academies will be functional at four more centres, including Hyderabad, Peshawar and Rawalpindi. There are also plans for Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalpur,” he said.

He further stated that keeping in view the security of the players, five-star hotels would be established near the stadiums.  He also informed the members about the progress of the Bio Mechanics lab and the ICC’s email regarding their team’s visit to see the facility.

Shaharyar said that they had prepared their case to take legal action against India for not fulfilling the agreement. “The ICC Dispute Resolution Committee will be approached to address the matter,” he added.

On Big Three of the ICC, he said that new constitution minus B3 has twice been approved with PCB’s efforts and hopefully it will get final approval in June’s ICC meeting.

Sethi said that they had asked Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to play the series or pay compensation money.

Sethi also said the PCB would approach the tribunal if India refused to play the series.

“Now, we plan to hold four matches of the PSL at Lahore and the same number at Karachi,” he added.

“We had six bidders for five franchises at the time of its launch and now as many as 30 national and international parties have shown their interest to buy the sixth franchise,” he said.

At the end, PCB Annual Domestic Awards were given to the following for their outstanding performance during the domestic season 2016-17.

Best Player of the Year (Blind): Badar Munir.

Best Player of the Year (Deaf and Dumb): Zaka Ahmed Qureshi.

Best Player of the Year (Disable): Maj (R) Hasnain Alam

Best Woman Player of the Year:  Asmavia Iqbal.

Outstanding Player of Domestic Season 2016-2017: Muhammad Abbas.

Best Umpire of the Year: Shozab Raza.

Best Match Referee of the Year:    Muhammad Anees.

Best Scorer of the Year: Najamus Saeed .

Best Curator of the Year: Niamat Ali.

Best Coach of Domestic Cricket Season 2016-2017: Azam Khan.