BCCI hits back at Ehsan Mani for his demand for Visa assurance

The BCCI is not happy with the PCB chairman Ehsan Mani’s demand for the Visa assurance for the T20 World Cup scheduled to take place in India later this year. Mani, in a recent interview, said that he would push for a change in venue of the T20 World Cup if the BCCI doesn’t give them a written assurance of granting Visas to the Pakistan players, support staff and other members. 

Advertisment

Speaking about Mani’s comments, a BCCI official termed the PCB chairman’s statement as immature. He revealed that he was surprised by Mani's comments as Ehsan Mani shares a good professional bond with BCCI President, Sourav Ganguly. The official further added that the Indian government has already made its policy clear about granting Visas to players for the international sporting events.

“It was surprising to read Ehsan Mani’s comments, especially in the background of the wonderful working relationship that he shares with Sourav Ganguly (BCCI President) at the ICC. He is a gentleman and had in fact been a guide for Sourav during the pandemic along with Shashank (Manohar). One can’t help but think that it is very immature of Mani to give a statement like this,” the official said.

“It is almost as if he is either desperately looking for a way out of his team playing in the tournament or he is grandstanding for some constituency back home. If they want to make it a political issue, it is of course their own wish. They do know that a cricket board of a country has absolutely no locus standi to give any assurance on an issue, which is not in their purview and is firmly in the decision-making sphere of the government,” the official added.

The relations between India and Pakistan have hit at an all time low. Both teams don’t play bilateral cricket anymore and only face each other in the ICC events. The last time these two teams played in a bilateral series was in 2012 when Pakistan toured India for a short 3 match ODI series.