PCB chief Ehsan Mani claims no bilateral series with India in new broadcast rights deal

The coronavirus pandemic has currently put cricket on a standstill and the future of the game remains highly unpredictable. In immediacy, tournaments like IPL 2020 have been affected but future tournaments like the much anticipated ICC T20 World Cup 2020 could be affected as well. The ICC T20 World Cup 2020 is scheduled to start on October 18 in Australia but this plan could be altered depending on how the COVID-19 pandemic progresses. 

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PCB chief Ehsan Mani prepares for a financial hit

PCB chairman Ehsan Mani appeared on Episode 20 of the PCB Podcast and talked about the potential financial hit that the PCB could take if the T20 World Cup gets cancelled. According to the 2017 ICC financial model, all cricket boards, except the Big Three (BCCI, CA, and ECB), receive a payout of $7-8 million twice a year, once in January and once in July. Ehsan Mani predicted that there may be a delay in the ICC payment for July as the board may try to analyse how to distribute payments in order to help the boards which are more affected by COVID-19.

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Ehsan Mani clarifies that the PCB is not depending on the BCCI for help

Along with this, Ehsan Mani also predicted that if the T20 World Cup gets affected too, then the payment that the boards were about to receive next January might be reduced too. Mani clarified that the Pakistan Cricket Board will continue to survive at the moment because it is not spending more than it is earning but it will feel a pinch if future payments get affected. He is optimistic about gaining from a new broadcast rights deal on the horizon which does not involve series with archrivals India. He also talked about not depending on the BCCI for help and instead looking to other international markets such as USA and UK where there is tremendous Pakistani presence and following.

Recently, Pakistan legend Shoaib Akhtar had suggested the ideas of playing a bilateral series between India and Pakistan to help fund coronavirus relief for both countries. Ehsan Mani maintained that the PCB's plan do not include getting help from Sourav Ganguly's BCCI. He mentioned how Indian cricket's apex bodies has committed to playing a few series with Pakistan in the past but has pulled out. Mani has highly been critical of BCCI in the past, calling them 'unreliable' this time and considers Pakistan's national security greater than that of India's.

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PSL 2020 cancelled

The Pakistan cricket board was hosting PSL 2020 when a player in the league showed symptoms of the dreaded COVID-19. The PCB indefinitely suspended the league on the day of its semi-finals and tested all players and personnel for COVID-19. The board later announced that all tests came back negative. Later, reports emerged that the PCB had suffered a loss of approximately 20 crore Pakistani rupees due to the cancellation of the remaining PSL. 

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