Najam Sethi : All countries want to play against India to make money
Najam Sethi has claimed that all the ICC members want to play against India as it helped them generate maximum revenue. He has also reiterated his stance on the India-Pakistan series and said that if India couldn't fulfil the contract agreement, then they should not have signed the MoU. `
The BCCI has been the richest board in world cricket at the moment and has been contributing most to the International cricket council. With the invention of the IPL, BCCI's monetary growth has increased manifold and that could be understood from BCCI's huge sell of the broadcasting rights. Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Sethi accepted the same and opined that apart from India’s status in world cricket, the country has the broadcasting right which helped the playing countries make money and this is the reason why all the other cricketing nations want to play against India.
"I don't think we need to use such words like
"India's point of view or that what they think is that since they contribute most revenues to the ICC they should get more but for us all ICC members are equal."
Recently, the Indian Cricket Board registered their objection against Pakistan who got the hosting rights for the Asian Emerging Nations Cup cricket in April next year. Indian cricket board made the point that before announcing the venue of the event, it was not consulted with them in which India is supposed to take part. Sethi stated that the Asian Cricket Council had put on hold a decision regarding the venues for the next year's event.
"Asia Cup and Asia Emerging Nations Cup tournaments are matters which are pending and so let us see what happens now. There have always been ups and downs in Pakistan and India relations including cricket so it is nothing new," he said.
The two boards had signed a Memorandum of Understanding back in 2014 when N Srinivasan was the president, under which they were due to play six bilateral series between 2014 and 2023. Considering the border and political relationship between the two nations, the BCCI always said that they need permission from the Indian government to play the series. While Sethi said that it was a wrong impression that Pakistan was desperate to play India and insisted that it was only asking for its due.
"It is not a question of us falling over to get India to play with us. It is a question of asking for our rights. It is about USD100 to 150 million dollars revenue and it is not right for us to leave it like that. There is nothing bigger than Pakistan and India matches. We are only asking them to fulfil their contractual obligation and if they could not adhere to it they should not have signed the MoU with us."
Sethi also defended the  PCB's decision to support the controversial T10 League held in Sharjah this month and allow players to appear in it.
"I look at this way that it has earned us money. Initially, they were not willing to pay us anything but we got a substantial amount from them. My background is business and academic and when I negotiate I do everything which is to PCB's advantage."