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Tuesday March 19, 2024

PCB BoG doubles budget for domestic cricket

By Abdul Mohi Shah
July 17, 2018

ISLAMABAD: PCB Board of Governors (BoG) has almost doubled the expenditures on domestic cricket while approving the annual budget of Rs6.4 billion for the fiscal year 2018-19.

The total income target of Rs6.4 billion and expenditure of Rs5.7 billion (without Pakistan Super League (PSL) has been set for the next physical year.

The 49th meeting of the BoG was held on Monday at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore with Najam Sethi in chair.

‘The News’ has learnt that the domestic players and other stakeholders would be main beneficiaries from the enhancement of budget. Players return for each match has been doubled. Be it a four-day, one-day or T20 cricket, domestic players would get almost double an amount to what they had been receiving in the past.

According to an estimate, a first class player would get Rs one lakh per one round of matches that would include four-dayer and a one-dayer.

The PCB is set to spend Rs916.36 million on domestic cricket, which is over 90 percent more than previous year. Likewise, budgeted expense on cricket development, talent hunt, academies programmes etc is estimated at Rs1 billion, which is 52 percent more than previous year.

The BOG approved the nomination of Mansoor Masood Khan as Alternate Director to the ICC. This arrangement has been made as per ICC regulations.

Mansoor will represent the PCB chairman in case of his absence at the ICC Board meetings.The budget approved by the BoG has no details about the PSL. “Since the matter is with the Auditor General of Pakistan, the budget approved by the BoG does not have details about PSL,” he said.

Budgeted income for 2018-19 is 133 percent more than previous year’s income of Rs2.79 billion.While reviewing previous year’s financial performance for 2017-18, the BoG noted that the PCB has very successfully achieved its income target while HBL PSL, in only its third year of operations, has emerged as the most successful brand in Pakistan and has become a major source of revenue.

Out of total capital expenditure planned for the next financial year, Rs2.66 billion has been allocated to building cricket related infrastructure mainly comprising stadiums in Karachi, Rawalpindi and Multan and also for cricket academies at Lahore, Multan and Karachi.

The BoG also noted the satisfactory shift towards enhancing revenue generating activities and development of cricket related facilities and infrastructure.It was also decided to approve the HBL PSL 2019 budget in the next quarter once it is final after valuation of rights for the next cycle and underlying bidding process is complete.

In his report, the chairman PCB Najam Sethi briefed the BoG on the infrastructure development projects carried out for revival of international cricket in the country. Sethi spoke about the up gradation of the National Stadium Karachi, which enabled the venue to host the PSL final and the three match T20I series against the Windies in March-April this year.

The stadium is currently undergoing the second stage of the development work which should be completed in time before the next international matches and the PSL 2019 home fixtures.

The PCB chairman also briefed the BoG on the successful run of the Pakistan cricket team across the three formats on the tours of England/Ireland and the on-going Zimbabwe tour.

The BoG greatly appreciated the record breaking performances in the T20I format, after the success in the T20I tri-series in Zimbabwe the national team has stretched its victory run to nine consecutive series, further strengthening its grip on the top of the ICC T20I team rankings.

Najam Sethi also spoke at length about the progress made by the national women’s team, following the recent appointments in the women’s wing and team management.He also spoke about the Future Tours Programme (FTP) which would see Pakistan play 123 matches across the three formats during the 2018-2023 periods.

The BoG also appreciated the on-going talent hunt and grooming programs in regional academies across the country, the BoG was also updated on the proceedings in the National Cricket Academy’s High Performance Camp (HPC).

The BoG also appreciated PCB’s efforts in shifting the Asia Cup from India to the UAE, the tournament is scheduled to be staged in September this year.Meanwhile, Sethi welcomed FATA’s Kabir Ahmed Khan who has been inducted as the new BOG member.

BOG members: Najam Aziz Sethi (chairman), Murad Ismail, Shares Abdullah Khan, Kabir Ahmed Khan, Mansoor Masood Khan, Najeeb Sammie, Arif Ijaz, Arif Ibrahim (Senior Joint Secretary Member-Secretary Ministry of IPC), Subhan Ahmad (COO PCB), Badar M. Khan (CFO PCB).