PCB rubbish India media propaganda

By our correspondent
LAHORE: Amir Mir, advisor to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, on Thursday rubbished India’s media propaganda that the PCB suffered huge financial losses by hosting the ICC Champions Trophy.
“My main purpose is to expose India’s media propaganda about the Champions Trophy. It is being portrayed that the PCB have suffered huge losses through this event. It’s disappointing that whatever was being portrayed by Indian media it was also run by Pakistani media. But I will tell you that facts are totally different,” Mir told a news conference at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore.
“The reality is that the PCB have earned Rs 3 billion through the Champions Trophy conduction. Our estimated income was around Rs 2 billion. And the other thing is that nothing has been spent on hosting the event from the PCB exchequer. It was an ICC event and the world body bears the expenses of such events,” Mir said.
“The ICC budget for this event was 70 million dollars. For Pakistan ICC had kept 10 million dollars and the expenses of hosting matches have been met by the ICC. It’s absolutely rubbish that Pakistan have suffered losses,” he said.
“As ICC will conduct audit and we hope that the PCB will get Rs3 billion income,” he was quick to add.
“This event has proved that the PCB is capable to hold any level of international event in Pakistan. India’s propaganda that its team cannot come to Pakistan due to security fears has also been blown up with the successful conduction of the event. The rest of the teams came to Pakistan and matches were held smoothly and there was no security breach,” he said.
He said that the PCB financial position has strengthened under Mohsin Naqvi.
“In the financial year 2023-2024 the PCB earned a record profit of its history by earning Rs10 billion. It never happened before. And the PCB is the only body in Pakistan which has paid Rs 4 billion tax to the national exchequer. It would not be wrong to say that the PCB is one of the three financially strong cricket boards of the world. And the reserves of the Board under Naqvi during the last one year did not decrease. Its rather increasing,” he said.
He said that the PCB did well to handle the upgradation task of the three venues. “It was an uphill task and in the past PCB chairman did not take such a risk. As Pakistan was going to host an international event so it was the demand that facilities should be of international standard. Last time the venues had been upgraded 29 years ago for the 1996 World Cup. Naqvi shouldered the responsibility and the task was completed inside four months. The biggest project was Gaddafi Stadium and it was completed in a record time. It’s a fixed asset which can be used for international events in future,” he said.
Meanwhile the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the PCB Javed Murtaza also seconded Mir’s statement saying that in the fiscal year 2023-2024 the PCB earned a record Rs 10 billion profit.
“And we have paid Rs4 billion tax from that. The PCB does not get any grant from the government and in returns we pay tax,” he said.
“Our income this year has increased by 40 percent through investments, international media rights and PSL contributions,” he said.
“In this all departments have contributed but Naqvi’s contribution was massive. After taking charge, he revised targets of all departments and we focused on quality not quantity and it yielded results.”
“Our budget for stadia upgradation is Rs 18 billion. It’s a phased approach. We have to spend it inside two years. In the first phase upgradation of Gaddafi Stadium, venues of Karachi and Pindi was made.
Of Rs 18 billion we had kept Rs 12.8 billion for the first phase and we have spent so far Rs 10 billion. And in the next phase the remaining work in these three stadia will be done. Naqvi also wants to upgrade Faisalabad, Multan and Hyderabad stadia also,” Javed Murtaza said.
“By next year you will have six to seven active international venues,” he was quick to add.
“We stand to earn a profit of around 10 million dollars. We did not bear any big expenses as it was met by the ICC and we only had to bear minor expenses,” he said.
“People say that you suffered losses because you have made investment. So, investment has been made for 30 to 50 years. The PCB has also made substantial investments in real estate this year and we will brief you about that. There is no need to listen to international media we are in a very stable financial position and we will remain so,” Murtaza concluded.