Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ehsan Mani has clarified that Pakistan will not chase after India to play a bilateral series with the arch-rivals.
“I have taken the view and let the PCB know that we will be ready to play India but will not be running after them,” he said in Oborne & Heller On Cricket podcast. “It is their call and we will be willing to play them when they are ready.”
The PCB chairman stated that the suspension of cricketing ties between Pakistan and India was of ‘great pity’, adding that no other cricket match is as closely followed as when the two arch-rivals square off against one another.
“I have been told that around 200-250 million people watch every time the two sides play each other.”
However, he said the current situation is a little different. “My predecessor had tried very hard to persuade Pakistan and India to play. They even signed a memorandum of understanding. India turned around and said they can’t honour it as their government has to give approval.”
Mani went on to say that the public wants the two countries to play each other but some politicians are against it. “If you look at the situation from a historical perspective, Pakistan has always been ready to play the neighbouring country. The political push has always come out of India a number of times.”
The PCB chairman had earlier stated that Pakistan will trying its best to host International Cricket Council (ICC) events in the country.
Mani said that the Indian government was unwilling to send their team to Pakistan in 2004 due to former lieutenant general Tauqir Zia serving as the then-PCB chairman.
“Cricketing ties between Pakistan and India were suspended when I became the International Cricket Council chairman back in 2003,” he said. “The first meeting I chaired was in Mumbai and I capitalised on the opportunity to reach out to then-Indian ministers to understand why they were reluctant to play Pakistan. They listened to me very politely. (It was) a lovely atmosphere but they wouldn’t give me a reason which would satisfy me.”
Mani revealed that Zia’s connection to the armed forces was the issue. “The former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chairman Raj Singh told me that he knew the foreign minister and will try to talk to them . He got back to me saying that the issue was of a former Lieutenant General Tauqir Zia was a serving general in the Pakistan Army and was the director general of military operations when the Kargil conflict took place.”
The PCB chair then revealed the interaction he had with the Pakistan authorities. “So I went back and told [former president] General (retd) Musharraf and Tauqir Zia and the latter asked whether he should step down. I refrained him from doing so by stating that don’t push India to play,” said Mani.
“Tauqir is a great character and was very popular within the PCB. I was in India when he stepped down as the chairman of the cricket board. I reminded the Indian officials of what they had said and that he was no longer in charge of the cricket board and asked whether they will send a team now,” said Mani. “The good thing was that the BCCI President, along with many of its former chiefs, went to see their government and were more vocal on the resumption of cricketing ties than me. I had to remain neutral given that I was the ICC chairman.”
Zia stepping down meant that ties resumed for a bit. “The Indian government agreed to send the team in 2004 and the tour was an enormous success,” he said.
Mani added that the Indians who toured Pakistan couldn’t believe the hospitality which they received. “I believe it was an Indian high commissioner who said that Pakistan will be sending back 15,000 to 20,000 ambassadors to India if they give them visas for the tour.”
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