Shahryar Khan to request ICC for ‘special fund’ for Pakistan

With the lack of international cricket in the country, Shahryar Khan and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have reported huge losses as far as Pakistan cricket is concerned. The 81-year old president of the Pakistan Cricket Board has stated that he would request the ICC for a ‘special fund’ in a bid to grow and develop cricket in Pakistan.

At the moment, the television revenue sharing of the ICC is based on the ‘Big-Three’ model, a model that witnesses the Big Three, India, Australia and England award themselves with the Lions’ share of the revenues, leaving a smaller portion for the subsequent nations. Khan, however, added that he would send out a message to the ICC requesting them to put aside a small percentage of their revenue for Pakistan cricket.

“We want to use this special fund to develop and promote cricket in Pakistan,” Shaharyar said on Monday (June 20). “We will request the International Cricket Council and member countries to put aside a small percentage of its income from ICC events for this special fund for Pakistan cricket.”

The country of Pakistan has seen only international cricket in the form of a mini-series against Zimbabwe in the fall of 2015. The international community had earlier stripped Pakistan of its right to host international matches following the 2009 attacks on the Sri Lanka cricket team in Lahore. Since then, the Pakistan cricket team has been playing all their matches in the UAE.

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“The security situation throughout the world is not stable but things are improving in Pakistan. But it is very difficult to say for certainty when we can host international teams at home. We don’t want to take decisions in haste and regret it later,” said Shaharyar.

“When we play a series in UAE the costs are high and generation of revenues not good enough for us. As a result, we are losing revenues annually and that eats into our funds set aside for development purposes and for our affiliated regional associations,” said Shaharyar.

Shahryar Khan also added that the financial situation for the PCB was so pathetic that it wasn’t allowing them to develop their players in the manner as they would have wished. Their inability to organise regular bilateral tours for their Under-19 sides and ‘A’ team was affecting the potential growth of cricket in the nation.