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Peshawar: The 57th Board of Governors meeting of the Pakistan Cricket Board, first of 2020, was held in Peshawar on Tuesday. The following are the outcomes of the meeting:
Bangladesh series
The BoG applauded the PCB Chairman and the Chief Executive for convincing Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to play 2 Tests, 1 ODI and 3 T20s in Pakistan.
In relation to this series, the PCB Chairman briefed the BoG on the amicable resolution of a dispute with the PCB’s media rights partner, which contrary to media reports, earned the PCB net revenue of US$3.75million.
The PCB Chairman informed the BoG he was able to convince the media rights partner to accept Bangladesh tour as an additional series in the agreement despite it being confirmed a week before the first T20I. However, recognising the media rights partner’s plea that it didn’t get enough time to sell the commercial airtime and based on an independent legal advice, the PCB agreed on the rights fee of US$3.75million.
Mr Ehsan Mani said: “I appreciate the BoG for acknowledging our efforts in getting this series back on track. To emerge profitable in the face of extreme challenges was another big achievement of this regime. If we had failed in our attempts with the media rights partner, we would have earned nothing as the tour could have been potentially canceled and our endeavours for the resumption of Test cricket would have been derailed.”
Update on Pakistan men’s national cricket team
Pakistan head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq provided a detailed briefing to the BoG on the men’s national cricket team since he assumed charge in September 2019. He talked at length on players’ fitness, domestic cricket, event scheduling, team preparation, selection criteria, future plans and the positives of his dual responsibilities.
The BoG appreciated the efforts of Misbah and acknowledged he was operating in a challenging environment, while emphasising on having a strategy that could take the sport and the team in an upward direction.
The BoG reiterated its support for Misbah and hoped with a positive and aggressive approach, the team will achieve good results under the present team management.
Misbah-ul-Haq said: “The interaction with the BoG was a wide-ranging one, which I found positive and supportive. They asked all the relevant questions and provided some constructive advice.
“I am satisfied with the progress the team is making though I acknowledge a lot of work still needs to be done. Having said that, we are now a different group as compared to what we were when we started. In the past five months, we have significantly improved our fitness levels and the players are also gaining confidence as they are now performing consistently at the international level.”
HBL PSL 2020
The BoG was updated on the HBL Pakistan Super League 2020, which will be held across Karachi, Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi from 20 February to 22 March.
The BoG was informed the player draft took place on 6 December, online sale of tickets started on 20 January, the anthem was released on 28 January and the production partner was appointed on 30 January.
PCB Chief Executive Wasim Khan said: “The delivery of the HBL PSL 2020 is proceeding nicely despite a back-breaking schedule that also includes home series against Bangladesh and next week’s Marylebone Cricket Club’s tour of Lahore in the lead up to our marquee event. The PCB staff are working flat-out to make it a memorable event for the players, fans, commercial partners and the media. I have no doubts that this will be great celebration of cricket, which has also seen the return of Test cricket.”