PCB in good financial health: Shehryar

For the first time in its history, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was in good financial health and in a position to undertake development work for the promotion of the game, PCB Chairman Shehryar Khan told Business Recorder here on Tuesday.
In an exclusive interview, the PCB chief said that main reason for financial stability was the revival of Pakistan-India cricket ties.
He said that in the March-April Pakistan-India cricket series, PCB has earned a record Rs 70 million only from tickets as against the previous best of Rs 15 million. Likewise, he said, the PCB has earned a record sponsorship of $24 million, thus, recouping much of its losses because of cancellation of tours by other teams.
FOUR POINT STRATEGY FOR REVIVAL OF CRICKET: Shehryar Khan said that the four-point strategy adopted by the PCB for revival of cricket in Pakistan had started paying dividends.
The PBC chief said hiring of best cricket coach in the business, Bob Woolmer, had accelerated the upward graph of the national team.
He said in order to take Pakistan at top of the cricket world, the pyramids of cricket, ie, first class, schools, clubs, universities and grass roots level cricket is being upgraded to broaden our players base.
The national and regional coaching academies are also being brought up to the higher level, he added.
He said that the PBC constitution and Board were being streamlined and strengthened to meet the demands of this popular sport. We are also upgrading stadiums to make them spectators-friendly and to the level required by the ICC, the PBC chairman added.
He said that Pakistan was going through a rebuilding and rejuvenating phase and our young talent was eager to establish itself. He said for this purpose our efforts have been to organise more tours for 'A' and 'Junior' teams to provide international exposure to them.
He was confident that Pakistan would soon have a very large base of high caliber cricketers, which would ensure consistency in the performance of our national team.
Shehryar Khan emphasised that cricket was no more an exclusive preserve of the middle and upper classes. He said it was now a game of the masses and a bridge to bring people together. Cricket is now unrivalled in terms of mass popularity and passion in South Asian sub-continent.
He admitted that with the loss of a series, especially against India, cricket fans in Pakistan are not only disappointed but also lose some interest in the sport, but, with every win, the passion for the game are high and the cricket following public holds the cricketers in high esteem.
Talking about the Pakistan-India series, the PCB chief said that the Board had had in-house review and brain storming sessions and took corrective measures. He said our coaches were giving more attention to discipline and physical and mental fitness of the players, which improved the performance of our national team at the Asia Cup tournament.