Part of the ICC’s setup for a generation and one of its most respected presidents in living memory, Ehsan Mani established his credentials as the man who steered the international body into the new century – and in the process made Pakistan proud.
Mani’s modernization transformed the institution’s posture among sports bodies internationally, with far-reaching finance/marketing initiatives. In an exclusive interview with Pakistan Today, he presents practical and structural proposals to turnaround Pakistan’s exploited and self-destructive Board.
Q: Is the ICC’s decision to
democratize member cricketing boards, while most welcome, politically motivated and Pakistan/Ijaz Butt-inspired?
A: There is a level of politics behind this move, but it is not Pakistan inspired. I believe that Mr. Butt has argued against this move at the ICC. I suspect it is BCCI inspired. A sports law is being proposed in India which will make it mandatory for all sports federation to be approved by the government and follow the regulations proposed in the law.
Incidentally, the BCCI is strongly opposed to this proposed law and does not wish to be accountable to its government. Hence, the ICC has moved to stop government interference.
The PCB should see this as an opportunity; for many years the BCCI has said that it is unable to play against Pakistan in bi-lateral series due to instructions from its government. I consider that is governmental interference which would not be acceptable to a sports body such as FIFA; which would suspend a member if there was government interference. The PCB should be pushing ICC to adopt similar measures.
Q: You recently said that BCCI
is hurting Pakistan cricket, even
targeting it. Is it beyond bilateral cricket and exclusion from leagues as well and extends to the ACC and the ICC?
A: Look at the BCCI’s attitude towards PCB over the past three years. The PCB came to an agreement with the president of ICC, David Morgan, and the vice-president at that time, Sharad Pawar that it would be allowed to host its allocation of the 2011 World Cup matches at neutral venues.
The next day, BCCI opposed this move and supported by Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, removed Pakistan as a host and reallocated the matches in their own countries.
The IPL franchises were specifically instructed by the BCCI not to select any Pakistani players. The Pakistani teams have been excluded from the Champions League for three years running and at the Asian Cricket Council meetings BCCI supported by Sri Lanka and Bangladesh has totally marginalized PCB’s role.
Last year when Pakistan decided to host its ‘home’ series against Australia in England, BCCI was very unhappy and tried to discourage England from allowing these matches to be played in the UK. The unfortunate reality is that PCB today has few friends at the ICC among the full, Test playing members.
This is due to PCB’s unpredictable conduct at ICC meetings, its behaviour such as accusing the English players being involved in match fixing (only to apologise later for the unsubstantiated allegations); the U-turn of its position on the nomination of former Australian prime minister, John Howard, as the ICC vice-president and a constant threat to sue the ICC.
Q: If so, what could have made Ijaz Butt to not go with the Aus-NZ proposed vice-president/president? Was it not a dumb decision in the
extreme?
A: Mr Butt had given a personal undertaking to the then ICC president, David Morgan, that he would support John Howard as the next ICC vice-president. The day before the ICC meeting the BCCI indicated to Mr Butt that it would resume cricketing ties with Pakistan if PCB opposed Howard’s appointment. Mr Butt immediately changed his position and signed a letter addressed to the ICC president stating that Pakistan was opposed to Howard’s nomination. Unfortunately, in his eagerness to please India, Mr Butt failed to get a written commitment from BCCI to fulfill its part of the bargain. Immediately after the decision to reject Howard’s nomination BCCI denied it had made any commitment to PCB.
Q: Is Pakistan cricket still
salvageable?
A: Of course Pakistan cricket is salvageable but it will take a number of years, both at the international and national level, to undo the damage done over the past three years.
Q: Meanwhile, what should
Pakistan do to move ahead, to get it right?
A: There is no quick fix. We require professionalism, dedication, long term planning and a clear vision for the game. Pakistan needs to rebuild its standing in the international cricket community, repair its relationships with other cricket boards, strengthen the cricket infrastructure in the country starting at the grassroots level leading into schools and clubs cricket and at divisional and regional levels.
Aiming to be second best should not be good enough; I found it quite incredible that the Pakistan team was feted for losing in the semi-final of the last Cricket World Cup, a match which we should have won. The system of the appointment of the PCB chairman has to be changed. Pakistan cricket deserves the ‘best man’ for the role of the PCB chairman and not an appointee who is answerable only to the patron.
It is disgraceful that the stewardship of Pakistan cricket in recent years has been so poor that the ICC had to appoint a Pakistan Task Team to look at the administration of cricket in Pakistan. The PCB was, until only three years ago, was one of the best run cricket boards in the world. The damage to Pakistan’s standing has been immense. The Task Team has made 63 recommendations on the management of cricket in Pakistan last week covering Governance, Cricket Administration, Playing Structure, Financial Viability and Communication.
This is a sad reflection of how much harm has been done to Pakistan cricket by an incompetent administration. The whole governance structure of cricket in Pakistan needs to be restructured and the regional cricket association have to be more involved in the policy and decision making processes of the PCB instead of leaving this to the whims of the PCB Chairman. There has to be transparency and accountability in the administration of the game in Pakistan.
Q: Also because of the apartheid that we’re suffering from, our cricket infrastructure now lags behind by at least a generation’s time. How could we prepare to improve on it so that when international cricket comes back to these parts we are not too far behind?
A: We have to have a very clear vision and concrete plans to bring cricket back to Pakistan. We have to be prepared to make investments in the cricket infrastructure in Pakistan on a long term basis and not seek immediate returns. Pakistan has some excellent international cricket facilities, these should be maintained and improved to ensure that international teams are happy to come to Pakistan when the conditions and security climate in the country permit.