PCB approve 7.76 billion budget for 2020-21 season

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday approved a budget of PKR 7.76 billion as operating expenditure for the 2020-21 fiscal year. The amount was a 10 per cent reduction from the 2019-20 fiscal year as the PCB continue their efforts to balance the books amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Although the budget was reduced marginally, a PCB media release stated that there was no cut-down on cricket-related activities as the board is committed to spending PKR 5.29 billion on cricket over the next 12 months.

The allocated cricket budget includes PKR 1.8 billion in High Performance, PKR 1.4 billion on Pakistan Super League 2021, PKR 1.4 billion on international cricket, PKR 109 million on Medical and Sports Sciences, PKR 411 million on women's cricket and PKR 39 million on disabled cricket.

PCB’s High Performance got the biggest chunk of the budget as it deals with most of domestic cricket's expenses including players/match officials/curator contracts, domestic events and their prize money as well as different academy programmes.

Finishing PSL Season 5 is very important for PCB

Last year, Pakistan overhauled their domestic system and introduced a five-category grade-based system of monthly retainers, apart from the match fees for all 192 players. They also abolished the departmental format and brought in just the six provincial teams to streamline the structure.

The Board of Governors (BoG) of PCB also approved the Code of Ethics as part of its good governance practices and in line with Article 44(d) of the PCB Constitution 2019. The code deals with matters such as conflict of interest, declaration of interests and confidentiality, with the sole purpose being to safeguard the integrity and the reputation of the PCB – much like the new Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) constitution.

During the virtual session, PCB chairman Ehsan Mani also updated the BoG on his meeting with the PCB patron, including discussions around legislation on criminalising corruption in sports.

The PCB are also finding it hard to organise the Pakistan Super League (PSL) this season due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the board is desperate to find a window to organise the tournament.

PCB sources were quoted as saying:

“Finishing PSL season 5 is very important for PCB as they want to decide the winner in a logical manner and almost all franchises are in favour of hosting remaining matches of PSL 5 games later this year.”

The sources added:

“The PCB is also ready to host these matches without foreign players but expecting a few foreign players to come for the playoffs and the final. The Board is depending on the goodwill of the PSL franchises with their foreign players to pay off in this regard.”

It is also reported that Pakistan’s tour to New Zealand in November-December for two Tests and three T20s will go ahead as per the schedule as the Covid-19 situation in the country is very much under control.