I will fight for Pakistan’s corner in BCCI legal battle, says Ehsan Mani

PCB claims up to USD 70 million as the revenue compensation of two series that failed to take place - November 2014 and December 2015 - which were agreed to be played by the boards in 2014. The two pending series were officially slotted into the ICC's Future Tours Programme (FTP) with Pakistan as the hosts. However, the BCCI never agreed to play those series because of certain political circumstances. 

Mani stated that the legal dispute between PCB and BCCI is his first priority. The ICC dispute committee shall take a decision about the dispute from October 1st to 3rd, in which PCB will be claiming lost earnings over two unplayed bilateral series against India. Mani mentioned that he intended to continue the legal battle that was started by the previous chairman Najam Sethi. 

“If it was at an earlier stage, I could have sat with the BCCI at the table to sort this out, but the process has started and gone too far to be pulled back. All the documents have been exchanged and the hearing is set for October 1. So withdrawing it at this stage when will make us look weak. Moreover, I am very optimistic that (the head of dispute committee) Michael Beloff is a strong arbitrator; he was appointed in my time at the ICC. He won't be under any pressure and everything will be done according to the law and on merit.But I can tell you I will not request India to play with us.

"Their own policy has been contradictory, as they are always ready to play in multi-nation tournaments like the Asia Cup and the World Cup but renege on bilateral arrangements. So I never understood their positions and the basis of their policy. Even when I was at the ICC, they used to threaten pulling out on ICC tournaments. I told them that I could suspend their membership but in my position here, I obviously can't do that. The ICC since than has been quite different, with India's influence far greater, but I will fight Pakistan's corner,” Mani said. 

The former ICC chairman was elected as the PCB chairman for the next three years without any opposition. He took charge and briefed on the current affairs in Pakistan cricket. He also met Imran Khan, Pakistan's prime minister and another brilliant Pakistani cricketer himself, and said he aimed to make the PCB "more transparent and accountable".

“I have set my priorities to fix domestic cricket and make it stronger than ever because this is the place where cricketers come through. I met with the Patron and publicly expressed my wish to have fewer teams compete in domestic cricket to ensure greater quality. [Imran wanted] an Australian model but we instead have to invent a Pakistani model. We have different circumstances but in principle, it's only quality teams that should be playing first-class cricket.

"This won't happen overnight; we have to conduct a thorough review and consult with all stakeholders. We can not ignore departments who are the major contributors in our domestic structure. They are undoubtedly the major employees for our cricketers and we cannot keep them out of the loop. I am forming a management task force who will identify the problems and suggest how we can make the structure stronger. There are a lot of challenges but we have to empower the regional set-up,” he said.

After the arrival of the new PCB chairman, the constitution has been subjected to certain changes. The chairman has been the most powerful individual with executive powers and has the authority to overrule national selections at every level. Mani feels that this has been a major conflict of interest.

“I have a major concern that too much power is accorded to the chairman, which isn't good practice. Nowhere in the world does this happen so we have to tweak the constitution. Ideally professional teams run on a professional basis. Whoever the chairman is, there is a system in which the importance of cricket should be enhanced and we will be running cricket to serve only one purpose: cricket and nothing else.

"The whole system should run only for cricketers and the importance of the chairman and board members will be toned down. So the intent is to take Pakistan to the next level by professionalising the system,” Mani concluded. 

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