June 06, 2007	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 20, 1428

LAHORE, June 5: Pakistan are likely to get less money compared to Sri Lanka for last month’s three-match ODI series in Abu Dhabi as there are reports the organisers have suffered losses.

Sources told Dawn the organisers had suffered a loss of US$1.1 million, mainly because both the countries had not sent their stalwarts to the desert state, leaving the series less attractive for the spectators as well as the sponsors.

Sri Lanka’s Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan and Kumar Sangakkara were the prominent absentees whereas Shoaib Akhtar, Younis Khan and Danish Kaneria were missing from Pakistan’s line-up in the Abu Dhabi contest due to different reasons.

When contacted a PCB spokesman told Dawn that both countries had signed different financial packages with the Abu Dhabi Cricket Council (ADCC) for the Abu Dhabi series.

“Under the contract, Sri Lanka got a fixed amount of money, more than what Pakistan received. Whereas Pakistan signed the contract under which besides getting a consolidated amount (less than that of Sri Lanka) it also had the share in the profit,” the spokesman said.

Though the spokesman avoided disclosing the amount, sources in Abu Dhabi said Sri Lanka, who are fifth in the ICC ODI rankings, received $750,000, while fourth-placed Pakistan got $500,000. As the organisers had suffered the loss, there are no hopes that Pakistan will get more amount.

The PCB spokesman, however, said there was no information whether the organisers earned any profit or not.