The Pakistan Cricket Board has failed to realize earnings of approximately Rs 700 million (USD 6.7 million) which it expected to collect from its short limited over series in India last December and the proposed Super League T20 tournament.
According to reliable sources, the matter came up for discussion at Saturday's meeting of the Governing Board which was informed about the shortfall in earnings in the annual budget.
"The PCB was expecting to earn and clear a shortfall of around 700 million rupees from the one-day series in India and the PSL but in both cases it ended up earning nothing," one source said.
He said that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) refused to share any revenue from the limited over series which was the first bilateral contest between the two nations since 2007 and was held in India.
Then the PSL, announced with much fanfare, also fell through in the tenure of former Chairman of the board, Zaka Ashraf due to different reasons.
Interestingly, Zaka Ashraf also didn't press the BCCI for any share in the revenues from the series and made statements to the effect that for Pakistan improving ties with India and resuming bilateral cricket ties was more important than money.
"Instead of earning from the PSL the board ended up spending on the preparations for the PSL and setting up the PSL secretariat which included consultancy fees to Haroon Lorgat and salaries to the Managing Director of the league (Salman Butt) and other employees in the secretariat," the source said.
The Governing Board has approved a provisional budget of around 3 billion rupees (USD 29 million approximately) with a deficit of rupees 500 million for the year 2013-14.
The approval came after a delay of around two months because of the PCB matters going into the Islamabad High Court which later in a judgment declared the election of Ashraf as null and void but also ordered restrictions on the working of Najam Sethi.
