The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has to reduce its dependence on funding from the International Cricket Council (ICC) as much of cricket's global governing body gets its funding from India, said the board's chairman Ramiz Raja. Ramiz said that this effectively means that cricket in Pakistan is at the mercy of Indian businesses and any political pressure in India to stop this funding can spell disaster for the sport in the country.
"The ICC is a politicised body divided between the Asian and Western blocs and 90 per cent of its revenues are generated from India. It is frightening," the PCB Chief said appearing before the Senate Standing Committee on Inter-Provincial affairs on Thursday in Islamabad.
"In a way India's business houses are running Pakistan cricket and if tomorrow the Indian PM decides he will not allow any funding to Pakistan, this cricket board can collapse," he added, but did not elaborate on the specifics.
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The former Pakistan captain also said that the ICC has reduced into an "event management company" considering how New Zealand and England are pulling out of their tours of the country. New Zealand canceled their tour just minutes before the start of the first match citing a security threat and Ramiz said some good news could be in store regarding the series in a week's time.
"What New Zealand did was unacceptable because till now they have not shared any information with us on what led them to abandon the series in Pakistan. But they are now trying to reschedule the series," said Ramiz.
"The good thing is they are working on something which means they want to mend things with us," he said.
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