BCCI’s attitude change, PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi’s Asia Cup bad blood behind Pakistan’s boycott: Ex-ICC prez Ehsan Mani

No official reason was put in the public domain to support this decision; however, it is believed the stance was taken after Bangladesh were ousted from the tournament by the ICC following the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) refusal to travel to India, citing security concerns.

The fallout from this latest decision by the Government of Pakistan has sparked widespread speculation about the tournament's future and, more importantly, the cricketing ties between the two Asian giants. As the drama continues, The Hindustan Times Digital caught up with Ehsan Mani, the former PCB and ICC chairman, to gain an insight into his mind and his view of the entire fiasco.

On what could have prompted Pakistan to take such a stance in the T20 World Cup, Mani recalled the Asia Cup 2025 fiasco, in which no handshakes were exchanged between players of India and Pakistan, and how the Asian tournament concluded with the Indian team refusing to accept the trophy from PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi.

"You've got to look at the background to this. I don't think the PCB chairman was happy with the Indian players' refusal to shake hands with the Pakistani players at the Asia Cup, then their refusal to take their trophy from him. You've really got to look at the whole picture; it's not a good relationship between the countries, which is sad, because we always worked very closely with BCCI, and their attitudes have changed significantly," Mani told HT.

"The PCB is simply going to say it's following government instructions, the same as India did for refusing to come to Pakistan in the last ICC event. And this is all very unfortunate. I do hope that the chairman of ICC, after all, he represents all the countries, including Pakistan, is talking to Pakistan to see how they can overcome Pakistan's position. In fact, he should be engaging not only with PCB but also with the government of Pakistan. As I did prior to India's 2004 tour, I came to India and met government ministers. And we worked out understanding where India would go to Pakistan. So, that's the responsibility of the ICC chairman, and I hope that Mr Jay Shah is doing that.”

Ever since the Government of Pakistan announced its decision, several reports have circulated, stating that Pakistan could be sanctioned by the ICC, which, in turn, could put the future of its cricket in serious jeopardy. Mani believes the PCB may indeed face trouble from the official broadcasters, JioStar; however, he was quick to say that enforcing sanctions won't be easy, considering India refused to tour Pakistan for the Champions Trophy, citing a verdict by their government.

"The PCB has certainly signed a member's participation agreement. But they will argue and hold the position that it is legally reasonable to follow the government's instructions, as BCCI did. Sanctioning Pakistan for what? The first thing is that there will be a claim against ICC by the broadcaster. Then the broadcaster agreement will have to be examined very carefully to see whether there is a commitment by BCCI to have Pakistan-India matches in the first round," Mani argued.

"In my time, there wasn't ever the case. And secondly, what is the value attributed in the agreement, if any, to the different matches? In my time, all matches were treated equally, whether it was Zimbabwe, India, or Pakistan. So, there are a lot of factors that will come into play. It will not be a simple matter of sanctioning the PCB. The Pakistan board would have a very strong defence, I would have thought.”

"If I had been chairman, which I am not, I would have first spoken to the chairman of the PCB, chairman to chairman, and understood the situation before issuing a statement. There has to be direct communication between the chairman of ICC and the member country," said Mani.

The former PCB and ICC boss was critical of the ICC for not agreeing to Bangladesh's demand to shift the T20 World Cup matches out of India to Sri Lanka and for showing them the door to bring in Scotland. Earlier, Bangladesh demanded that the ICC shift its matches out of India, citing security concerns, and this stance followed the release of pacer Mustafizur Rahman by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) despite having picked him for INR 9.20 crore in the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction.

"There should definitely have been accommodation for Bangladesh's concerns. Again, I think ICC has a major failing there, because the relationship between India and Bangladesh has not been good since the government change in Bangladesh. So, it makes people wonder whether that had something to do with this, to teach Bangladesh a lesson, and then get a Scottish team in, which is an insult, I think, to our cricket, or whether Bangladesh could have been accommodated," he said.

"If Bangladesh had been accommodated, we wouldn't find ourselves in this position now. I must say that I strongly dislike politics coming into the game from anyone. And that's exactly what's happening now, which is sad. It's not good for world cricket," he concluded.

Click here to read article