Ehsan Mani, former President of the International Cricket Council (ICC), on Thursday, claimed that the decision of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to file a compensation claim against the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) will make things even worse, and can lead to bad blood and impact on the future cricket relations between the two nations.
Last week, PCB has filed a compensation claim of $ 70 million against Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for not honoring a bilateral cricket series agreement (MoU).
Speaking to Geo Super channel, Ehsan Mani said, “I have concerns about the consequences of this case whatever its outcome. What I am concerned about is the affect it is going to have on cricket relations between the two countries in the long run. I just think all avenues of talks, discussions and backdoor diplomacy were not explored by the PCB before going ahead with its compensation claim in the ICC.”
Read More: Former PCB Chief calls Pakistan Board's compensation claim against BCCI "Useless"
He further added, “I would have waited and first exhausted all options of trying to get something out of India for them not playing bilateral ties with Pakistan before opting for the compensation claim option.”
Mani further said that even if Pakistan won its compensation claim against India what guarantee is there the BCCI would agree to pay out the asked amount, adding “Say if Pakistan is successful in its compensation claim what happens if India holds back the money. Then Pakistan has to go to the ICC board and it will not help relations between both countries.”
Ehsan Mani, who served as ICC president between 2003 to 2006, said there was a clause, according to which the Disputes Resolution Committee’s decision was compulsory on both parties and could not be challenged in any other forum, but the things often get ugly when it came to money.
He asked, “If India holds back on payment what does Pakistan do, does it ask the ICC to deduct India’s share of revenues from ICC events? Can the ICC do that?”
Read More: India's slip catching a concern says, Pujara
The former ICC head also believes that Pakistan would have filed the compensation claim against BCCI after going through all legal aspects as well as if they had any clause in the ICC constitution which said no government hindrance is bear in any member board’s associations.
He further added on the same, “India says it is not getting government clearance to play Pakistan and that clause will than become important in this case. But overall I think there will be bad blood and feelings and it will impact future cricket relations between the two.”
Mani also felt that former BCCI President and ICC Chairman N Srinivasan had a significant role to play in India not resuming bilateral cricket ties with Pakistan, claiming, “He was not good news when he was there at the helm of affairs. He was anti-Pakistan and in his tenure all chances of India taking initiative to get government clearance to play regular bilateral cricket with Pakistan were non-existent.”
The 72-year-old also said that India had become a difficult member among other members to deal with in the ICC because of its significant contribution to the ICC revenues.
He concluded by saying, “India does contribute significantly to the ICC revenues but I don't buy this 70 percent talk. The bottom line is ICC failed itself by not exploring the markets of USA and China. Even today there just has to be the right moves made to make India realize that it can't operate independently in world cricket.”
