LAHORE: The budget of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for the fiscal year 2025-26, worth Rs18.30 billion, was passed by the Board of Governors (BoG) at its 78th meeting held here on Thursday.

Surprisingly, it took the BoG just a few minutes before it passed the budget. Moreover, the PCB did not share details of the budget in the press release issued on Thursday.

It may be noted that the PCB had not uploaded its financial budget 2024-25 on its website which contains only the 2023-24 budget.

The BoG also decided to reward the region that shows the best performance in developing the game.

“The board also decided to annually recognise and reward the region that demonstrate the best performance in the promotion and development of cricket. Under this initiative, the best performing region will receive an award each year,” the PCB said in a statement.

It is the first time that the PCB has decided to award the regional bodies for their performance. However, the PCB did not make any decision to award those clubs and district associations, which do well, as they are also affiliated with the PCB along with the regional bodies.

“In another significant development, the PCB decided that staff performance will be regularly monitored moving forward. The board expressed satisfaction over the utilisation of the 2024-25 fiscal year budget,” the PCB said.

“The meeting also ratified the decisions taken in the previous board meeting. Chief Financial Officer Javed Murtaza briefed the members on the key features of the budget.”

According to the PCB statement, the meeting was attended by BoG members Zaheer Abbas, Sajjad Ali Khokhar, Zafarullah, Tariq Sarwar, PCB chief operating officer Sameer Ahmed, PSL chief executive officer Salman Naseer, director media & communications Amir Mir, director domestic cricket Abdullah Khurram Niazi, and head of women’s cricket Rafia Haider.

Anwar Ghani, Mustafa Ramday, Daniyal Gilani, Anwar Ahmed Khan, Dr Shafi Rehman, and director international cricket Usman Wahla participated in the meeting via video link, the PCB statement concluded.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2025