India-Pakistan cricket ties will improve relationship between both countries, believes Ehsan Mani
PCB chairman Ehsan Mani has stated that people of both India and Pakistan want to see the cricket ties resume and added that the tie would improve relations between the two countries as well. The newly-elected chairman has also added that India’s stance on not playing them is nothing but hypocrisy.
The political climate between the two South Asian nations have been stagnant over the last weekdecade and Pakistan’s continuous breaches of contract at the border have made it further impossible for the relations to improve. In the wake of it, India decided not to play a single bilateral match against Pakistan in any format since January 2013, but have met them in ICC and ACC tournaments. While ICC’s dispute resolution committee is working on it, Ehsan Mani stated that it was BCCI’s "hypocrisy" that is blocking the way.
"The main thing is that we play cricket against each other. When we play cricket, especially in our countries - when we go to India or when they come here - helps in increasing people-to-people contact. Indian fans come to Pakistan. Lakhs of fans have come to Pakistan from India and everyone goes back happy,” Mani told ESPN Cricinfo.
"There's no better way to improve the relations between countries than having sporting contacts, cultural contacts. For me, that is far more important than any amount of money that comes into the game.
"Indian public obviously love to see India and Pakistan playing, and so does the Pakistan public. Rest of the work is of the politicians and frankly, once India is in the lead-up to its elections next year, so I don't think there will be any softening in their attitude. But in the long term, the people want it and you can't go against the will of the people forever.
"There is a lot of hypocrisy at the moment. India plays an ICC event against us but doesn't play a bilateral series. That is something that we need to address."
An India-Pakistan cricket match brings a lot of money to the table for the hosting body and of course, the broadcasters. For example, all tickets for the Indo-Pak group stage match in the last month’s Asia Cup, barring corporate hospitality, priced upwards of 6000 AED (USD 1600 approx), were sold out. That can attest the genuine interest of fans to watch both the sides locking horns despite some shoddy displays by Pakistan in the last few years. And Mani wants to see bigger picture like that beyond monetary benefits.
"Money isn't the issue, it's more about the game. There are more viewers for an India-Pakistan match than any other match in the world. So, if the Indian government decides to deprive its own citizens of watching an India-Pakistan match then that is their choice."
India and Pakistan had last played a full bilateral series in 2007 in India and although Pakistan made to India for two T20Is and three ODIs in December 2012, the two countries haven’t played Tests since then. While the teams have continued to play each other at multi-nation tournaments, in November 2016, India women had forfeited six points for failing to play a scheduled three-match series part of the ICC Women's Championship due to the political situation between the two countries.
