Islamabad
Cricket-fanatic-fans in Pakistan and India would continue missing a bilateral series, as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Wasim Khan also believes that it will be unrealistic to think of such an arrangement “for a period of time.”
“Sadly we need to forget about playing India for a period of time. It’s really sad for the cricket fans, for us, for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), because actually we get on well with the BCCI.”
“But also ultimately they have to get permission from the government, before they can play against Pakistan, so that’s one sad thing. So you know unfortunately we don’t think about playing against India now, because it’s not realistic for either side right now,” Wasim said in a video on YouTube Channel ‘Cric Cast’ with Sawera Pasha.
Wasim, who was made the Chief Executive of Leicestershire Cricket Club in October 2014, said maybe in the future there may be an opportunity for us. “But right now, sadly there isn’t and I think we need to forget about it for the immediate future, because it’s not possible unless it’s during World Cups or in International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments,” he said.
Wasim, who played first-class cricket for the record breaking double winning Warwickshire team in 1995, said it was a difficult time but thankfully PCB have done all the contingency planning. “We’ve looked at all the various scenarios and looked at finances for the next three years, so you know we are okay in terms of the least next two and a half three years, with the way COVID-19 is and everything else,” he said.
Wasim, who was appointed by PCB in December 2018, said this was why we’re trying to diversify with our commercial income streams as well so we’re not reliant on ICC tournaments, funding, broadcasting money, because the broadcasting market around the world you know, those big deals are gone.
“Gone are the days where you know Sky paid 1.1 billion pounds to England, to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for the broadcasting rights and so it’s going to be tough our right cycle is now finished so we’re in market place now to find a new broadcast partner, media rights partners.”
“So it’s going to be a tough time for us but we’ve planned for the worse and hopefully we’ll be in decent position, watch expenditure and make sure that we keep Pakistan cricket sustainable,” he said.—APP
