KARACHI: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja has expressed his concerns over the unfair system of financial share by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to cricket boards and aimed to make Pakistan the second-best cricketing economy.
PCB Chairman claimed to raise the issue of unfair share on the ICC platform during the upcoming general meeting for the new cycle of the Future Tour Programme (FTP) while proposing that the system of funding should be based on either team’s ranking or the commercial prospects.
“ICC had developed this system a long ago, in which the big cricket board secured the major share for themselves,” he said in an interview given to a Youtube channel Cricket Baaz with Waheed Khan
“The share base for cricket boards should either be based on the cricket – team retaining top ranks across all format should get the funding accordingly,” he added
He further went on to elaborate that it was unfair if Pakistan got a meagre 10 per cent share of all the revenue earned through the showstopper Pakistan-India contests, meanwhile India got 90 per cent.
While expressing his desire to make Pakistan the second-best cricketing economy, Chairman PCB conceded the economic strength of the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI).
“It is not sensible to unnecessarily begrudge the economic strength of any board. If I was in their place I would’ve also assumed it my right to be the first pick, be it FTP or the tournament window given to the various boards,” he claimed. “That’s why I want to make ourselves the second-best cricketing economy, if not the best.”
The Chairman PCB also asserted that unlike other boards he felt privileged not to be dependent on BCCI for the finances.
“I feel privileged while sitting at the ICC table, unlike other boards who look toward BCCI for their coffers,” he maintained. “We are lucky that we are standing on our own feet, we have respect and our team is doing well in international cricket,” he concluded.
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