Ehsan Mani asks PCB to snub India in ICC meet

Former International Cricket Council (ICC) President, Ehsan Mani, has heavily criticised BCCI chief Anurag Thakur for his "inflammatory" comments on Pakistan. The former ICC President asked the PCB to stand against India hosting ICC events.

Mani said on Tuesday night that Pakistani cricket officials should come prepared and go hard at the ICC executive board meeting scheduled to happen next week in Cape Town. He wants India to be stripped of hosting any ICC events in the near future. Mani also feels that by making poor, immature statements, India has allowed Pakistan a great leeway to present its case against India in the forthcoming meeting.

Mani mentioned that the Pakistan authorities should also demand that the ICC should question Anurag Thakur to explain his stand in making his controversial claims against the country. The ICC has a clear cut rule stating that derogatory remarks against any of their member countries will not be tolerated.

"Anurag Thakur is a politician and member of parliament of the ruling party and the ICC must ask him to explain in what capacity does he give his statements on Pakistan or any other cricket issue. They must ask him to explain his position since the ICC constitution clearly forbade any of its own officials or those of member countries to make statements that bring the game into disrepute and that is what Thakur has done in his statements", the former ICC chief was quoted by the PTI.

Mani had been advising Pakistan to stop agreeing to play India in the group events of ICC events for a long time. Considering the huge fan base for both nations and the kind of viewership matches between them bring, the international body had recently revealed it tries to pool the two countries in the same group in major ICC events to attract fans. However, Mani has asked the PCB to decline playing India hitherto.

"Now India is talking about not playing us in group stages of ICC events. The truth is that the ICC earns a lot from these Indo-Pak matches in its tournaments and India takes home the lions share under the big three governance formula. Yet they don't want to have bilateral cricket ties with us."

Pakistan cricket losing millions due to lack of cricket

He said that the PCB had been trying to please the BCCI for years since they wanted to resume bilateral ties with India as it gathers a lot of monetary benefits for the PCB. A PCB official recently revealed that due to lack of India-Pakistan encounters since 2007 in a full bilateral series, it had suffered losses above USD 100 million.

"But now it is clear there is lot of negativity from the Indian cricket board and even otherwise the situation is tense. So this is the best time for Pakistan to make its point at the ICC meeting."

Najam Sethi, the former chairman of the PCB, who now heads the executive committee, told the media in Lahore that they planned to give a fitting reply to India's recent threats to not play Pakistan in ICC events.

Sethi will be attending the ICC board meeting with CEO, Subhan Ahmad in place of chairman Shaharyar Khan, who is recovering from heart surgery.