"Probably lost $300 or $400 million over the last 10 years by India not playing us" : Wasim Khan

[Boiz Played Well]

Why cricket needs to come back to Pakistan

"There’s a number of factors. One is we were playing our cricket in the UAE and it was costing us a fortune to play there with hardly anybody watching so that wasn’t sustainable."

"The fact that India don’t play us on the world stage in terms of bilateral cricket. We lose a huge amount of income out of that — in terms of broadcasting. So it wasn’t sustainable for us to keep playing in the UAE and it was important for us to get cricket back not only for the fans but financially for their country as well."

Chances of playing India in the near future

"Very unlikely with their present government. Because they have to seek permission from their government both for the men and the women [teams] to play against us in any sport actually.

"We’ve actually got very good relations with the BCCI and I think we’re just about cricket. They want to play us and we want to play them — we’re happy to play them on a neutral venue but ultimately they have to get a sign-off from their government.

"The type of regime that is in place at the moment which has a very anti-Pakistan rhetoric — it’s likely that it’s not going to happen very soon."

Unfair for Pakistan

"It’s massively unfair. For a number of reasons. One is that combination of 1.5 billion people across both nations would love to see nothing better and the diaspora around the world. And secondly: financially — every other country plays India. It’s a huge pull from the broadcasting perspective. We reckon we’ve probably lost $300 or $400 million over the last 10 years by India not playing us.

"So there’s huge financial ramifications for us and even more reason for us to not play in the UAE. We played Australia recently in a five ODI series and it cost us nearly $2 million to host that — we can’t sustain that moving forward. Hence it’s critical we get back to Pakistan particularly if we can’t play India."

Source: https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode?id=485974

[Boiz Played Well]

Hoping that the PCB’s marketing dept. does an adequate job too for home cricket. They’ve been very disappointing so far.

[dildilpak]

Don’t understand how long can Pakistan moan about India not playing them - they will not & thats that. One has to accept it & move on at some level - you cannot be depending on others to make money for you.

Problem was not only that India didnt want to play Pakistan, problem was that NO international team wanted to visit Pakistan because of terrorism concerns & rightly/wrongly that continues to this day. Get that fixed & money will flow.

[Usman Chadda]

Not sure what this whining will achieve. Every few months we have an official moan about not playing against India.

We should focus on alternate sources of revenue. It's a hand we have been dealt, we should just look to make the best of the situation we find ourselves in.

[Boiz Played Well]

Not sure what this whining will achieve. Every few months we have an official moan about not playing against India.

We should focus on alternate sources of revenue. It's a hand we have been dealt, we should just look to make the best of the situation we find ourselves in.

I think that’s why he’s explaining why it’s important to bring it back home. For boards like WI, PAK, BD, SA, SL even NZ - an India series is a bulk revenue source. So if we can’t have that all the more important for cricket to come home for Pakistan.

[King_Kohli]

What is the current financial status of PCB?
I think its not bad as WI and SA

[Bilal Ahmad15]

I understand that India, Australia and other teams not touring Pakistan in the last 10 or so years has affected Pakistan cricket, however PCB and especially Wasim Khan need to get over this, and PCB has to stop complaining about India not playing them, it makes them look like they rely on India and other teams in order to succeed, which shouldn't be the case.

I feel as though PCB and Wasim Khan have been focusing way too much on trying to get teams to tour Pakistan rather than trying to focus on making Pakistan a better cricket team (via more wins etc.), although they have introduced a better domestic system. Pretty much every interview with Wasim Khan, he talks about 'we plan for this team to tour Pakistan' and 'these teams not touring Pakistan has badly affected our cricket'.Still can't believe that the "professionals" of Ehsan Mani and Wasim Khan decided to make Misbah Chief Selector, Head Coach, Batting Coach, and IU coach. I'm pretty sure no other team in the history of cricket, or least none of the teams that won the WC, have had one inexperienced person take on three big roles. Selecting Azhar Ali as test captain was awful also, he has already given up half-way through his first test match as captain, by bowling part-timers over the proper bowlers for the majority of day 3, while Azhar Ali also has a defensive mindset and defensive field. The worse part is Wasim Khan, Ehsan Mani (when asked about making the bad decisions of selecting Misbah for three roles and making Azhar Ali test captain) will just say "it will take time for the team to start performing" and other crap. However, I am not saying it is bad that PCB is focusing on teams touring Pakistan, as that is important, rather PCB should pay more attention on making Pakistan team win more games, tours, trophies etc.

[Artaxerxes]

PCB should stop moaning about India.Pakistan doesn't need to play India.Once international cricket returns to Pakistan then everything will be fine.If I was running PCB I would have not allowed Pakistan to play Indian even in international competitions.

[SensiblePakFan]

Good to see we are ending the unsustainable UAE chapter.

[Revolution]

You play good cricket then everything will follow you.
Pakistan economy is poor now. I don't think other nations will tour Pakistan frequently.

Stop bringing Indian govt.. First remove corruption in PCB.

[Shoaib88]

I think even international viewers will be getting tired of seeing Pakistani officials constantly crying and begging for India series. Some one really needs to tell PCB that India will never play bilateral series against Pakistan unless a liberal government comes to power in India and there are not any political issues (like terrorism etc.) between two countries for some time.

[Shoaib88]

Good to see we are ending the unsustainable UAE chapter.

Agree, don't think many people realise how much financial damage was done through playing in UAE.

[Salma_T]

Wasim Khan the CEO of PCB was interviewed yestrday during the lunch break. He spoke well etc and put the case forward for the return of cricket to Pakistan. The most surprising aspect was that Barbar leaving school at 12.. ...why is this still happening education must be a must along with cricket.

[PakLFC]

Every cloud has a silver lining. It is to our benefit that the well oiled Indian side is not playing one of the poorest Pak Test sides in memory. They'd wipe the floor with our jokers within three days. Thanks India for not playing us!

[Rightarmfast]

I think all this moaning is to take the focus off the poor state Pakisan cricket is in and the results Pakistan team is getting
Playing against India or not, doesnt give an excuse for the pathetic state of affairs in Pakistan cricket. They havent done much to encourage youngsters.
How can India not playing Pakistan explain the lack of talent in Pakistan cricket or the lack of nurturing of talent?
Learn to take the blame!

[lifecric7]

Why is there so much desperation to play with India. We are happy in our world and you can be happy in yours.

[Salma_T]

I listened to the interveiw and the mention of not playing India and the loss was less than a minute of the interveiw. He spoke about his background and his role etc. The post is more alarmist than his so called moaning.

[PakLFC]

Why is there so much desperation to play with India. We are happy in our world and you can be happy in yours.

Where is the desperation? I am more then happy if we never play you ever again and I mean it.

[redmaverik84]

Where is the desperation? I am more then happy if we never play you ever again and I mean it.

Why so much Hate? I regularly hear you spewing stuff against India. Well, India has issues with Pakistan and vice versa but why use this forum for it all. Lets just talk cricket and hope things better! It applies to fans on both sides.

[Artaxerxes]

Teams did tour Pakistan due to security issues not poor economy.

[Corridor of Uncertainty]

Didn’t take long for Wasim to blame external factors.

[Itachi]

Where is the desperation? I am more then happy if we never play you ever again and I mean it.

I guess its time PCB takes the same perception as you.

[redmaverik84]

Pakistan and India will not ever play a bilateral series because all this Aman Ki Asha has gone for a toss. There is mistrust on both sides and I cant forsee it being cleared anytime. We should just hope for games during World Cups and similar tournaments, enjoy it while it lasts and when they are played. Pakistan should just move on and not emphasize on the loss from the Indian market. I mean you are the second most populous cricketing country and along with Bangladesh have a huge potential to monetize this.

[Captain caveman]

I wish the PCB would stop begging!
Its really sharamful, as the great umar akmal would say.
As a.pakistan fan, it make me feel really embarassed!

[Mamoon]

Try taking BCCI to court.

[Captain caveman]

Quite honestly, i would be happy if we never played india ever again!
That includes in ICC tournaments.
I really hope pakistan dont attend the 2021 world t20 in india, but the shameless PCB will send the pak team there and hope that they can make the final, so that mani and imran can be guests of honour of modi!

[andy0204]

This will not happen until BJP losses the elections.

[Captain caveman]

India vs pakistan test are usually boring.
I think the only really exciting ones i can think of the top of my head are the one where kamran akmal and razzaq won us the test from the brink of defeat.
The Saqlain one where he took the indian batting apart.
1999 test where ahktar bowled dravid and tendulkar in successive balls, tendulkar for a duck.
And the afridi one, where he scored a century against india (lol)!
Otherwise they are boring draws or you get sehwag on a dead pitch in multan scoring a triple century.
If india were to play pakistan, they should play in england(the best place for test cricket in the world) or in SL.
The dead piches of india and pakistan just kill the game.

But like i said before, i would be happy if we never played india ever again!

[Cpt. Rishwat]

I listened to the interveiw and the mention of not playing India and the loss was less than a minute of the interveiw. He spoke about his background and his role etc. The post is more alarmist than his so called moaning.

Fair enough, but he needs to learn from this, and in fact the PCB as an organisation need to come up with a better way of handling questions about India. The Indian govt is extremist and somewhat weird, but Pakistan cricket should be self-sufficient. In that case they would be able to say it is a shame there is no cricket between the two countries, but it is out of our hands and we have to respect the lunatic policies of Indian govt.

[King_Kohli]

This will not happen until BJP losses the elections.

This will not happen as long as pappu is congress leader.

[Abu_Hamza]

And PCB at it again. It seems that they only care about an INDO-PAK series and want it badly. INDIA has moved on and look where they have reached. They never needed to play PAKISTAN and they are going strength to strength. Pakistan's unattractive brand of cricket is to blamed for this and also their politics inside the PCB that they still want India to play with them to increase their revenue.

[andy0204]

This will not happen as long as pappu is congress leader.

I don't give a damn about Congress.
They are over.

[Varun]

Otherwise they are boring draws or you get sehwag on a dead pitch in multan scoring a triple century.

It was such a dead pitch that you were innings defeated.

Inzamam, Yousuf and co. got out twice, while our wicket-keeper did not even bat once.

[IndianExpat]

Don’t understand how long can Pakistan moan about India not playing them - they will not & thats that. One has to accept it & move on at some level - you cannot be depending on others to make money for you.

Problem was not only that India didnt want to play Pakistan, problem was that NO international team wanted to visit Pakistan because of terrorism concerns & rightly/wrongly that continues to this day. Get that fixed & money will flow.

You're not wrong, but a "home" series against India is the biggest profit maker for any board on the planet, outside of Ashes in England maybe.

[IndianExpat]

On a side note, every time it seems a PCB official whinges about not playing India, it seems the loss amount keeps getting bigger and bigger.

[Savak]

Wasim Khan is correct, this kind of money can only be made by playing against India in a home series.

All the other boards always beg for a series against India in order to bail them out of financial crunches for e.g. West Indies, South Africa, Sri Lanka.

[PakLFC]

I guess its time PCB takes the same perception as you.

As I said India is too good for us at the moment. Irrespective of the reason for not playing them it is better our losers play sides like Sri Lanka at home then we can convince ourselves of being a decent side.

[BreadPakoda]

Try taking BCCI to court.

About time this is done.

[cricketjoshila]

About time this is done.

Which court and on basis of what?

[lifecric7]

It will be billion for next 10 years..no chance of playing

[khanz141]

I think he meant.. this was additional revenue PCB missed out on

Pakistan cricket is able to pay the fat salaries of Wasim Khan and all these other officials without playing any cricket VS india so i am sure it's not a necessity to play them.

[Plumb]

Stop it Mr Khan !!!! go and fix pak cricket rather than screaming and yelling at others. Do something which produces better players first. It seems like you are here to make sure PCB gets richer and richer without producing star players.

[abhay]

This constant begging is getting really embarassing

[RedwoodOriginal]

How long are we going to keep flogging this dead horse? India does not want to play you, move on already.

[BreadPakoda]

I think he meant.. this was additional revenue PCB missed out on

Pakistan cricket is able to pay the fat salaries of Wasim Khan and all these other officials without playing any cricket VS india so i am sure it's not a necessity to play them.

Technically speaking - yes. Or maybe notional loss?