The PCB is in the midst of talks with the Emirates Cricket Board to bid for ICC events in the 2023-31 cycle.

PCB chairman Ehsan Mani said that the board had expressed interest in hosting five to six events but is realistic about their chances of winning bids, saying they “likely won’t be getting more than one or two”.

“It is very important for Pakistan cricket and its development that some of the ICC events are played in Pakistan,” Mani said in a PCB podcast. “We intend to make a very serious expression of our interest on this matter and we will be getting full government support as well. The ICC delegation did meet with Dr Fahmida Mirza, the Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination, who also handles sports in the country, and they [the ICC] got a very positive impression.

“There appears to be little chance of India and Pakistan playing, and we have already suffered losses in millions of dollars.”https://t.co/U6MdIdPTIa

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) April 5, 2020

“We had expressed an interest to host five to six events and, frankly, it is likely we won’t be getting more than one or two. But we also thought out of the box to bid jointly with another country. 

“I have already begun speaking with the Emirates Cricket Board for a team-up to increase the chances of hosting some of it together but, again, it needs co-operation. There are a few events with 16 games, and then there are events with 30-40 games, so depending on the scale, the workload can be divided between us.”

Mani was aware of the threat by the three financial giants, the BCCI, Cricket Australia, and the England and Wales Cricket Board, but remained confident in the PCB’s capacity, both in terms of logistics and infrastructure, and from an appeal point of view.

“We have full confidence in our logistic capability and infrastructure to hold them,” Mani said. “But there are other countries, too, who are likely to present a strong case for their bids. But unfortunately, when the “Big Three” (India, Australia, and England) emerged as a combined force and Pakistan and a few other boards couldn’t stop that from happening, the ICC had distributed all major events between them. But this won’t happen this time around. All the major broadcast markets in the world for the ICC to earn its revenue from is in the South-Asian region and Pakistan is well placed time-zone-wise as well. So, our case is really quite strong.”