A local journalist has accused the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) of corruption and financial mismanagement during the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. The journalist, Shahid Hashmi, didn’t mince his words while criticising the board for the mess it created during the recently-concluded event. Hashmi also made a shocking revelation, claiming that a pitch curator sold his motorbike to arrange fertilisers for the maintenance of the pitch in Rawalpindi, one of three venues in Pakistan, as the PCB refused to co-operate. The allegations made by Hashmi come at a time when PCB is already going through a turmoil, following the national team’s poor outing in the tournament as well as the recent bilateral events.

“I learned something very strange yesterday. Fertilisers were needed for maintenance of Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, so budget and expenses for it were sent to the PCB. But it just stayed hidden in some file. The curator sold his personal motorbike to arrange fertilisers for the stadium,” Hashmi said on Samaa TV.

“What can be worse? You were given a budget for fertilisers, but you didn’t get the fertilisers. So the curator had to sell his own motorbike to do the work,” he added.

Hashmi also cited another example of financial corruption in Pakistan cricket.

“Yesterday in Karachi, they needed a long piece of cotton to cover the pitch and water it. People had to contribute money for that and the curator got the piece from behind the National Stadium,” Hashmi revealed.

“The budget received by PCB for the Champions Trophy 2025, there was no proper work done on it.”

“They just put their work on each other, and didn’t do their own work. No work is being done for the management of pitches for domestic matches and then when it comes to scheduling, they don’t give the weather report, which they are needed to. They don’t do any work and there is a lot of work for it,” he further added.

Earlier this week, PCB claimed to have earned three billion rupees by hosting the ICC Champions Trophy, exceeding its target of two billion rupees.

The PCB also said that there have been no budget overruns so far because of the Champions Trophy and other issues.

“The PCB undergoes two audits annually, at the end of its fiscal year. The audits for the current fiscal year will take place after June 30, 2025,” the PCB confirmed.

The PCB also insisted that there had been no overspending or mismanagement, as the Champions Trophy was entirely managed by the ICC.

(With PTI Inputs)