KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was on Tuesday caught in a deadlock with the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) for demanding additional compensation on organising chartered flights between Pakistan and Sri Lanka during the Asia Cup, which it co-hosted in August-September, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported.

The Asia Cup 2023 was organised in a hybrid model in Pakistan and Sri Lanka after the ACC accepted PCB’s proposal, with majority of the matches organised in the island nation.

A reliable source in the PCB informed PTI that apart from seeking the tournament hosting fees — around $250,000 — as well as shares from ticketing and sponsorship fees, they have also dem­anded additional compensation.

The source said: “The additional money is for expenses incurred on renting chartered flights for teams between Pakistan and Sri Lanka and other extra expenses like additional hotel and transport fees, which were not included in the initial budget for the Asia Cup.”

The source, however, informed that the ACC is not willing to pay additional expenses to the PCB since it believes that Pakistan had agreed for matches to be held in Sri Lanka under its hybrid model, in return for hosting four games of the Asia Cup at home.

A Sri Lanka-based company named Classic Travel was paid $281,000 for arranging four chartered flights to and fro between Pakistan and the island nation — something that PCB’s Cricket Management Committee (CMC) was not comfortable paying upfront as advance.

The tournament was moved to a hybrid model after India refused to play in Pakistan citing security reasons.

While Pakistan hosted only four matches initially, the expen­ses ballooned apparently because the PCB management committee head Zaka Ashraf moved one of these games from Lahore to Multan, near his hometown.

The source said since the ACC decided to hold matches in Sri Lanka, it was their responsibility to pay for the chartered flights and other additional expenses.

The source added that Pakis­tan, who played against Afghan­istan in Sri Lanka just before the Asia Cup, were slated to return home for the Asia Cup. But since the event was held mostly in Sri Lanka, PCB had to arrange flights between Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

The company arranging the flights had quoted a rate of $281,700 for four chartered flights and all money was demanded in advance. The PCB also considered selling vacant seats on the chartered aircrafts to fans, but the idea was trashed due to security reasons. Meanwhile, claims have emerged that a top PCB official used one of the chartered flights to take his family to Colombo.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2023