ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi on Monday termed the third edition of Pakistan Super League a success story and said it has generated an earning of over five million US dollars.

Speaking to media after attending National Assembly Standing Comm­ittee on Inter-provincial Coordination (IPC) here at the Parliament House, the PCB chief said that in the second edition of PSL, the earning was close to three million dollars.

“This time round [in third edition], we are expecting over five million dollars as profit,” said Sethi, adding that for the next PSL edition, other venues such as Pindi Cricket Stadium, are also being considered for holding some matches.

To a query regarding the selection committee’s decision of ignoring talented Fawad Alam for upcoming Tests in Ireland and England, Sethi said the selection committee comprises professionals and they are fully independent to select the team. “I never interfere in the selection of team,” he said.

Talking about the India-Pakistan dispute over bilateral series, Sethi said that PCB had initiated dispute resolution process against the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and is hopeful that the matter will be decided soon.

It is relevant to note here that recently the International Cricket Council (ICC) constituted a three-member conflict resolution committee after PBC initiated a dispute resolution process against BCCI.

The Chairman PCB had come to parliament house to attend a standing committee meeting of National Assembly, which reviewed the financial matters of PCB and PSL while keeping the media away from the proceedings.

The NA committee on IPC met here with MNA Abdul Qahar Khan Wadan in the chair. Sources said the committee discussed the audit reports of PSL I and II. They said that during the course of meeting, MNA Iqbal Mohammad Ali Khan showed his concerns over PCB officials’ move of providing only two-page audit report of PSL to committee members. He said that proper audit of PCB/PSL should be conducted by office of Auditor General of Pakistan and same should be shared with the committee.

To this, the PCB chairman informed the committee members that government auditors regularly conduct audits of the Board and a special audit is going to start in the next few days.

Iqbal also raised questions on selection committee and ignoring Fawad Alam and pacer Wahab Riaz for the upcoming tours of Ireland and England. “The conditions in England suit left-arm pacer [Wahab] who is a genuine quick bowler, so I fail to understand why he was not made part of the squad,” a source quoted Iqbal Mohammad Ali Khan, asking this PCB officials. The MQM MNA also questioned the inclusion of Imam-ul-Haq in team for England tour.

Sources said that committee members expressed satisfaction over the performance of PCB. “In today’s meetings, there were several audit related queries; we try our best to answers all the questions,” the PCB chief told media.

Meanwhile, the in-camera meeting of the standing committee surprised many on Monday. “If the standing committee is discussing something related to nuclear assets then ok, if not then why the meeting is being held in-camera? Why cricket related affairs are being kept such a secret? This meeting should be held publicly,” said a journalist, who reached the parliament only to know the meeting is being held in-camera.

However, an official of the National Assembly said that in the meeting notice issued a few days ago, the media persons were told that it will be held in-camera.

Besides others, the meeting was attended by IPC minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada, MNAs Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, Dr Mehreen Razzaque Bhutto and others.

Published in Dawn, Aprill 17th, 2018