Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Mar 17: Already limping economically, Pakistan hosting the just-concluded Champions Trophy cricket tournament is learnt to have further burnt a big hole in Pakistan Cricket Board’s pocket inflicting it a lethal blow.
The state of cricketing affairs in Pakistan was already in disarray, with the men’s national team struggling to secure positive results on international cricket and the losses the PCB has incurred by hosting the ICC Champions Trophy has forced the board to impose wage cuts.
The PCB is said to have incurred a mind-boggling loss of USD 85 million (INR 869 crore) by hosting the Champions Trophy, a tournament in which they played just one game at home, and was lifted by India playing the final match in Dubai.
Pakistan suffered a defeat in their opening Group A match of the Champions Trophy against New Zealand in Lahore before travelling to Dubai where they faced India. Their third and final group match against Bangladesh was washed out without a ball being bowled. Due to the defeats against New Zealand and India, Pakistan were knocked out of the tournament, hence ending the campaign with just one home game.
As per the Pakistan media reports, Pakistan had spent about PKR 18 billion (about $58 million) to upgrade their three Champions Trophy venues -Rawalpindi, Lahore, and Karachi. The cost of upgradation turned out to be 50 percent more than the anticipated budget.
Later, the PCB also reportedly spent USD 40 million on event preparations. In return, however, their earnings were literally in pennies. PCB is said to have only received USD 6 million in return as part of the hosting fee. When it comes to ticket sales and sponsorships, the earnings were negligible.
The report, hence concluded that the PCB suffered a loss of about USD 85 million by hosting the ICC Champions Trophy. The aftereffects of such a loss were seen some of the board’s subsequent plans.
The management decided to reduce the match fees for the national T20 championship by 90 per cent while reducing the reserve player payments by 87.5 percent. Even 5-star accommodations for players were swapped with economy hotels.
Its impact may also reflect on the Pakistan Super League (PSL) which had to be rescheduled in the current year due to hosting the Champions Trophy. As the PCB announced its schedule almost parallel to the Indian Premier League (IPL), some clashes were bound to erupt.
Those players figuring in both IPL and PSL and made to decide between the two franchise leagues, IPL was bound to be preferred because of multiple reasons — ranging from better remuneration to exposure. South Africa’s Corbin Bosch has already become the first player to ditch his PSL contract in favour of IPL.
The 5-time IPL winners Mumbai Indians has called Bosch’s services as a replacement for the injured Lizaad Williams. Those in the Pakistan cricketing spectrum are understandably not happy. The PCB has issued a legal notice to Bosch for breaching his contractual obligations with the board.
Bosch, who incidentally made his debut for South Africa against Pakistan in the series earlier this year, was picked by Peshawar Zalmi in the Diamond category during the tenth edition of Pakistan Super League Players Draft, held in Lahore on January 13. Earlier this month Mumbai Indians, a franchise of the IPL announced that it had picked Bosch as a replacement for the injured Lizaad Williams who is also from South Africa.
The legal notice was served to Bosch through his agent, and the player has been asked to justify his actions of withdrawing from his professional and contractual commitments. The PCB management has also outlined the repercussions of his departure from the league and expects his response within the stipulated time frame.
This is the first time since the PSL was launched in 2016 that its window will clash for quite a few matches with the IPL. The PCB had to move its PSL window from its regular February-March to April-May because of the Champions Trophy and other international commitments in Pakistan.
Only those overseas players who were not picked in the IPL auction in November later signed on for the PSL, including Bosch. In the coming days too, the PCB may have to face the same predicament if more players were picked by the IPL franchises as replacement for injured overseas players.