Bangladesh Cricket Board unhappy with Pakistan Cricket Board over revenue sharing issue

Bangladesh’s Anamul Haque celebrates the dismissal of Pakistan’s Ahmed Shehzad

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is not happy with Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) refusal to drop its demand of a 50% share of the revenues for touring Bangladesh in April and May. A former administrator of the Bangladesh board said that the PCB is treading a dangerous path for its demand ahead of the upcoming series in Bangladesh.

Pakistan are supposed to tour Bangladesh for two Test matches, three one-day internationals and one twenty-20 match. The BCB insist that sharing of revenue in a bilateral series is unheard of and are reluctant to fulfil the PCB’s wishes.

The former BCB administrator noted, “It is a risky thing because we might end up facing similar demands from the big three teams when we play England and India later this year in home series.”

However, from the other side, a PCB official said that the board’s demand for Bangladesh to share 50 percent revenue is justified. Apart from the revenue share, Bangladesh also have to agree to send its first team and U19 team to Pakistan.

The PCB official said, “The ICC has allowed boards to negotiate on bilateral series and realistically speaking we want to gain something out of touring Bangladesh.

“We don’t want to demean any team or board but we also have to look at our interests now. We held discussions with their officials recently in Dubai and gave our reasons for making these demands. They have promised to get back to us after consulting their government.”

In the past, Bangladesh had twice called off tours to Pakistan citing security concerns and this demand from the PCB is unlikely to break the ice between the two boards.