PSL financial model lopsided in PCB's favour, admits Ehsan Mani

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ehsan Mani has admitted that the existing financial model between the Board and Pakistan Super League franchises is lopsided, and while he expressed his willingness to tweak it, he hinted that wholesale changes may not be possible due to the threat of "inquiries and audits".

"The deal signed between the PCB and PSL is a bit too much in the PCB's favour," Mani told Geo Super. 

"But if we try and tweak it even a little bit, it triggers inquiries and audits, said the PCB chairman who had to explain the Board's finances in front of a Senate committee earlier this month.

"We will still try and accommodate PSL franchises as much as we can because we have to take the league to new heights. We want to make it the number one league.

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It is pertinent to mention here that the PCB and six PSL franchises have been at loggerheads over the league's financial model - a disagreement that nearly escalated into an all-out legal battle until the franchises accepted the PCB's offer to return to the table.

Despite his hands being largely tied, Mani still said that "we're completely confident of introducing something next month that would make the league stronger."

The PCB chairman said that he sees no reason why the Pakistan Super League 2021 will not be staged in Pakistan.

"India is staging their league in UAE because the coronavirus cases are rising rampantly there," he said. 

"Our situation is better and on average only 500-700 cases appear daily. Our government worked very hard on this and it must be appreciated. 

"As things stand right now, we are confident we'd be able to hold the next PSL in Pakistan."

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Mani tight-lipped on future as PCB supremo

Mani, who reportedly intends to not continue as PCB chair beyond his current deal, refused to divulge too much about his future, simply saying that he'd cross that bridge when he comes to it.

The PCB chairman further said that the Board has told the ICC of their intention and availability to host major events. 

"We will need to upgrade our infrastructure a lot for this and for that we'd need to invest Rs5-10billion," he said. "The PCB will make that investment itself and work in this regard will begin in a year or two."

'Misbah giving up on selection is workload management'

Mani insisted that Misbah's relinquishing of his selection role should not be looked as a demotion but as a mutually agreed upon workload management that was part of the deal right from the day he had signed up.

He also ended the debate on the future of the Cricket Committee, saying that its existence is mandatory as "cricketing issues must be deal with by cricketers themselves."

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