Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ramiz Raja has encouraged his players to beat India as it can then turn into a profitable business for Pakistan Cricket, for big investors in the country are waiting with blank cheques if this Pakistan side is able to achieve what hasn’t been done in last 29 years.
“One strong investor told me that a blank cheque is ready for the PCB if Pakistan beats India in the upcoming T20 World Cup,” Raja was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan. Pakistan play India on October 24 at the Dubai International Stadium.
Raja further went on to say that his primary objective as board chairman is to make Pakistan’s cricket economy self-sufficient.
“PCB runs 50 per cent on the funding of ICC. 90 per cent of funding to ICC comes from India. I’m afraid that if India stopped funding ICC, then PCB might collapse because PCB gives zero per cent funding to ICC. I’m determined to make Pakistan cricket strong,” said the 59-year-old administrator, who also led Pakistan as a player.
“If our cricket economy is strong, we won’t be used and then binned by teams like England and New Zealand,” he said. “Best cricket team and best cricket economy are two big challenges,” he added.
Raja also enumerated the efforts that his team at PCB to make sure that players in the domestic circuit are getting good enough money to keep putting in their best efforts.
“We have increased salaries of domestic cricketers by a hundred thousand rupees as we want to ensure that they earn at least four million rupees every year. PCB is also looking for sponsors in this regard,” he said.