PCB finances are 'absolutely fine' for next 12-14 months: Wasim Khan

Cricket has suffered big losses due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Things look unsustainable for the cricket councils across the globe. Recently, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) suffered a huge loss as the semi-final and final game got postponed due to the pandemic. Now, PCB chief Wasim Khan has given out his verdict that the board is financially secure for at least 12 to 14 months if the same situation fails to subside.

This season of Pakistan Super League 2020 was organized in its mother country for the first time. Fans welcomed the tournament with open arms and the players got stadiums filled with cheerful fans. The league was moving in its fag end when PCB postponed the tournament to future until further notice. This step was taken by the board to protect individuals from getting infected with the virus. Despite PCB suffering losses in millions due to their decision, PCB chief Wasim Khan looks quite optimistic about going into the future.

PCB’s financial condition is fine, says Wasim Khan

Wasim Khan, the PCB chief said that at the moment they are financially secured despite suffering huge losses due to the postponement of PSL 2020. As per his calculation, PCB incurred a loss of around 200 million in terms of gate receipts. However, the exact details of losses will be released soon in the upcoming week.

Now, the board is looking forward to some new deals as their contract with Ten Sports comes to an end and their last assignment as a part of their tie-up was the Bangladesh series. They have no home cricket as well as international cricket until the Asia Cup, which is scheduled to be played in October. According to Wasim Khan, the finances of the board are quite on track and like other countries, if the current situation continues, then they might have to face some real challenges after 12 or 14 months.

“For now our financial grounds are fine, and obviously we just had a PSL, and the losses we incurred were from gate receipts and sponsorships. I was roughly calculating that it could be around the 200-million-rupee mark in terms of gate receipts that we actually lost on our revenue. This is something we will have definite numbers for in the next couple of weeks, and we will provide the details of where we made the greatest losses,” Wasim Khan, PCB CEO said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

“So we are in a fortunate position in the fact that the only immediate loss we have is the Bangladesh series. We lost three to four million dollars because we are not playing the Test and ODI. We are very fortunate in the fact that we don’t have home cricket and international’s cricket until we move on to the Asia Cup and Zimbabwe in October.

Our finances are okay but like any other country if this continues for another 12 or 14 months, then we will start to see a real challenge in our finances. So for time being, we are absolutely fine,” he added.