Playing India is like pie in the sky: PCB chairman

KARACHI: Pakistan cricket, like all other fields, is bracing for hard times in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic but the PCB boss is putting up a brave face.

In a podcast released by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday, Ehsan Mani stressed that his organisation was ready to swim against the tide to keep the sport in good shape even in the time of extreme crisis.

Speaking on wide-ranging issues, Mani played down the importance of reviving money-spinning cricketing relations with India and also called on the authorities to pass laws to criminalise the offence of fixing.

The PCB chairman was of the view that the menace of corruption has been allowed to grow in the absence of potent laws needed to eradicate it.

“One thing should be very clear, there should be zero tolerance on such offences,” he stressed. “We have been following what ICC rules are but we lack what other countries have done to curb the fixing and that’s criminalization of corruption in sports,” he pointed out.

Last week, former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif had called for criminalisation of fixing in sports. Several countries have strict laws aimed at curbing fixing and Mani said that the PCB is now demanding similar steps to be taken in Pakistan.

“I have already spoken to the government earlier on this and will go again stressing to make laws against fixing in corruption,” Mani said. “We don’t have legal authority to call witnesses or seek bank details but if we make laws against this then it will make it easier for the agencies to investigate.”

The coronavirus pandemic has halted international sports action globally and cricket is no exception. There have been calls to extend the ICC cricket cycle with Pakistan coach Misbah-ul-Haq and Test captain Azhar Ali urging the international body to stretch the World Test Championship.

“The World Test Championship has already been halted and scheduled has been affected,” Mani said. “PCB’s view on this is that ICC should stretch the ICC World Test Championship cycle to allow countries to complete their matches.”

Mani feared that Pakistan cricket will incur big losses because of the pandemic. “We have to renew our broadcast rights contract, our sponsorship contracts but we don’t know about future cricket and the economic situation due to coronavirus pandemic indicates that we wouldn’t be able to get handsome amount from new contracts,” he said.

“We also have our future cricket schedule in Europe, we’ll see how things go. As we speak I am hopeful that tour will go on and we are discussing various options on that too.

“We’ll do what’s the need of the hour and work with ECB (regarding this summer’s tour of England). The tour will go ahead hopefully, but we have to be prepared for disruptions, our plans will need to be flexible and there’ll have to be goodwill on both sides,” he said.

About the possibility of Indo-Pak bilateral series, Mani said: “Our position is clear that we don’t want politics mixing with cricket and we have same position but at this point we are not even thinking of cricket with India. We are surviving without that even. India in past backed out of its commitment and that’s why aren’t including cricket with them in our plans”

“Not having India series costs us but we’re not thinking about that. As they say, it’s pie in the sky. If it’s not there, it’s not there. We have to live without them, but we don’t need them to survive. India are unreliable, we can’t rely on cricket resuming with them anytime in the foreseeable future. If it happens, well. We face them in ICC events, which are fine. We’re interested in cricket and we keep politics and cricket separate,” he said.

The PCB chief rejected speculations that Pakistan will lose the rights to host this year’s Asia Cup following fears that India will refuse to play the regional event on Pakistani soil. “Asia Cup is not about Pakistan and India. It is beyond that, it is about Asian Countries. The revenue generated from the Asia Cup is invested in development of the cricket in our associate members,” Mani said.

“We haven’t decided when and where the tournament will be held, things at this point are uncertain and that’s why we haven’t discussed much but once things are finalised, it won’t be difficult for ACC to have it organised.”

Mani said that the PCB was trying to get hosting rights of future international tournaments. “We are capable of hosting ICC events. We just hosted PSL without any issues which confirm our capability. We have informed ICC that we can host any event from U19 World Cup to any major ICC event,” he said.

“There’s also likelihood that we may host some even jointly with Emirates Cricket Board. I am hopeful that we will be allocated hosting rights of some ICC events.” Mani stressed that despite losses, PCB will not make the cricketers and the Board staff suffer because of it.

“We will try our best to safeguard their (cricketers) interest as far as it is possible for us. There will not be any unusual pay cuts. Staff will also not be made redundant. But normal changes will continue to happen as we are also in the process of restructuring. Meanwhile, everything will continue to go on as before,” he said. “Without staff the board cannot work and without players we have nothing. So these two things are our priorities.”