LAHORE - The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has offered to host Bangladesh in the United Arab Emirates in a home series that will replace the scheduled tour of Pakistan to Bangladesh in April-May 2015.
Former PCB chairman Najam Sethi, who now heads the powerful executive committee, said Friday that a deadlock still persisted between the two boards over sharing of revenues if Pakistan toured Bangladesh in April-May. “Our contention is simple they owe us a home series as they were scheduled to tour Pakistan in 2012 and didn’t come. We on other hand toured Bangladesh in 2011,” said former PCB chairman Najam Sethi.
“We have now told them that it is our turn to host a series and if they want us to tour then the Bangladesh board must share 50 percent revenues with us or else we have even offered to host them in the UAE as our home series,” Sethi added.
He said the Bangladesh board had to understand that the PCB also had to safeguard its financial interests. “They pulled out of a confirmed tour in 2012 and we suffered loss in revenues. We are just saying that this series is now our home series and if they want to host it they must share the revenues or what do we gain out of the coming series,” Mr. Sethi who heads the PCB’s powerful executive committee and also former chairman said.
Sethi said that Pakistan was also willing to host Bangladesh in the UAE and treat it as a home series to make some revenues. Asked whether what would Pakistan’s final stance if Bangladesh refused to share revenues, Mr. Sethi said the PCB was continuing a process of negotiation and was hopeful the Bangladesh board would try to understand the situation. “Let us not jump to conclusions as we are hopeful this tour will also earn us some revenues,” he said.
The Bangladesh board has said that while it would be willing to share some of the expenses of the Pakistan team it would not part ways with any share of the revenues from the series.
Sethi also said that a dispute with Pakistan players over their central contracts was not affecting the team's preparations for the World Cup. Sethi said the dispute had been blown out of proportion in the media. "The players are focused on cricket and the World Cup and it is wrong to say this central contracts issue is affecting their performance or focus," Sethi told reporters.
Sethi admitted the senior players had reservations but said talks had been held, adding that they will be offered 12-month contracts after the World Cup. "It is not a big issue as it is being made out to be. It certainly had no bearing on our performances in New Zealand," he said.
Sethi also said Pakistani players would only be able to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) once bilateral cricket ties with India were restored on a permanent basis.
He Sethi said the possibility of Pakistani cricketers’ participation in the IPL would only arise once bilateral ties resumed this year in December. "I don't know why it is like this but the fact is Indo-Pak cricket ties are always dictated by the existing government to government level ties between the two countries," Sethi said. "And every time we have a bilateral series planned it is normal for both boards to first get clearance from the government at the last moment," he added.
Sethi noted that political and diplomatic dictates cricket relations between the two countries. "India for its part has signed a MoU with us to play six series over the next seven years and the first series of this agreement is scheduled in December. But the fate of that series will only be known when the time comes," he said. "It is unfortunate but this is the way it is. We have spoken to the Indian board about our players not being allowed into the IPL but we get the same answer all the time from them."
Sethi said if the series happens in December than he was sure that Pakistani players would make an appearance in the IPL in 2016. Pakistani players took part in the first edition of the IPL in 2008 but following the terror attacks in Mumbai the Indian government suspended all sporting ties with Pakistan.
Asked about Pakistan's planned Super League T20 event which has been postponed twice, Sethi said: "We want to hold it in Pakistan but problem is foreign players are demanding too much money for coming here and we will have to host it in Dubai."