LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) marketing director Usman Waheed has tendered his resignation to the body’s chairman Mohsin Naqvi amid controversy over the alleged underselling of the broadcast rights of the 2024-25 home season, Dawn learnt on Saturday.

“Usman Waheed’s resignation has been received in the PCB’s offices, but it has not been seen by PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi.” a spokesperson of the board told Dawn.

It is understood that the PCB failed to meet the reserve price of Rs3.2 billion for the broadcast rights of a season — which features seven Test matches, a tri-nation One-day International tournament, three ODIs and five T20Is — selling them at a mere Rs1.72 billion to the consortium of ARY and Tower Sports.

The selling of the rights, however, was handled by an Australian consultant while Usman only assisted him in the process, a source said.

The marketing department, as well as the domestic cricket department of the PCB, it is understood, are also under fire, because of both failing to meet the targets set for the execution of the board’s grand plan of setting up the Champions one-day, first-class and T20 tournaments, which were introduced as the top-tier events of the national domestic earlier this month.

The PCB had said that it would assign “mentors” to each of the five teams of the Champions tournaments, who would run the affairs of each outfit, but there has been no visible progress in the project, with the domestic department failing to rope in the former players as mentors and announcing the squads and coaching staff of the teams, keeping the marketing department from taking things forward from there.

The discrepancies have also delayed the start of the Champions One-day Cup, originally slated for Sept. 1 in Faisalabad, by 11 days.

Meanwhile, sources told Dawn that either a resignation or a sacking of another director was also in the offing with an inquiry ongoing against him over “conflict of interest” after the matter was brought to the notice of the PCB chairman.

The official in question is allegedly involved in awarding several contracts to one specific company and setting his own share in the deals.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2024