PCB looking to overcome shortfall in budget via T20 league, India series – Cricket News Update
With a budget deficit having been confirmed at the governing council meeting on June 20 in Lahore, the Pakistan Cricket Board is looking to overcome the shortfall via the proposed series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750, as well as the launch of a T20 league which is still
in the works.
“The Board members deliberated extensively on the budget and noted that like previous years the budget is a deficit one,” read an official statement released by the PCB. “They were assured that by the end of the financial year every possible effort will
be made to reduce the deficit.”
The current budget for 2011-12 has a shortfall of 70 crore Pakistani rupees (US$7.5 million approx), which needs to be compensated. The budget for 2010-2011 was also characterised by a deficit, which was overcome to some extent by the compensation the International
Cricket Council paid to the board after http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 was removed as co-host of the 2011 World Cup.
The board has been in a dire financial situation since the 2009 terrorist attacks on the Sri Lankan tour bus in Lahore, after which the security situation in the country has been deemed too precarious to allow foreign teams to tour. Owing to the lack of
revenue from hosting international events, and the excess expenses incurred owing to the need to host home series in neutral venues abroad such as the UAE, the board’s budgets have been in red for the past few years.
“We are forced to play away from home, this makes a difference,” a member of the PCB's governing board pointed out while speaking to
ESPNcricinfo. “But we have plans and the board is optimistic that by the end of this fiscal year, [even if we do] not cover [the deficit], we will be able to reduce the gap.”
The PCB’s talks with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on finally reviving the bilateral sporting ties between the two nations (which came to a halt following the 2008 terrorist attacks in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820) appear to have yielded results, with a tentative
plan to hold a short Indo-Pak series later this year having been announced.
In addition to the bilateral series, the board has also been working on a plan for a T20 league modelled on the hugely successful Indian Premier League, which is slated to be launched, tentatively, in October this year. Both events have the potential to
generate a substantial amount of revenue for the board.
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