PCB demands written assurances from BCCI for T20 World Cup

PCB chairman Ehsan Mani says assurances for security and the granting of visas would be necessary given the relationship between India and Pakistan.

PCB chairman, Ehsan Mani.

The Pakistan Cricket Board will ask the ICC to relocate the T20 World Cup to the UAE if India doesn’t provide a written assurance that its team, fans and journalists will be granted visas for the event, chairman Ehsan Mani has said.

During an interaction with reporters at the PCB headquarters in Lahore, Mani said the PCB had expressed its views to the ICC. “There is a need to change the ‘Big Three’ mindset. We are not seeking written assurance for the visas of the national team only, but for the fans, officials and journalists as well,” Mani said.

 

The veteran cricket administrator added, “We have told the ICC that India should give written assurances by the end of March so that we know where we stand or we will push for the relocation of the World Cup from India to UAE.”

India is scheduled to host the T20 showpiece in October-November.

Mani also said it wanted written assurances from the BCCI about security arrangements for the entire Pakistan contingent. He said they were necessary given the existing relationship between the two countries.

In the absence of bilateral cricket between the two countries, Mani said the PCB had made its intentions clear to the game’s stakeholders - within and outside the country - that “PCB plans to run our cricket without India.”

Ehsan Mani open for term extension Ehsan Mani is willing to continue to the job if he is given an extension by the PCB's patron-in-chief, Prime Minister Imran Khan. Mani's three-year tenure as PCB chairman will end in September this year but he told reporters in Lahore that he is open for an extension. "I never asked for this job nor did I talk to the PM about it. He entrusted this responsibility to me and I have tried to do my best," Mani, a former ICC president, said. Mani said he was satisfied the targets he had achieved, which he set while assuming charge in September, 2018. "Our CEO Wasim Khan has played a big part in bringing back international cricket to Pakistan despite the COVID-19 pandemic and stressful conditions. I would like to see him being given an extension of another three years,” he said. Mani said the board had not only succeeded in bringing back international cricket to Pakistan but had also worked hard on improving the overall structure of the game in the country. "Our domestic structure is now better and it will take three to five years for the results to come through. Time is required for everyone to see the benefits of our changing domestic structure," he said. Mani said he was also happy to see the PCB in a financially stable position, at a time when other boards were struggling due to disruption of cricket activities because of the pandemic.