Each West Indies player given INR 18.5 lakhs extra by PCB to play in Pakistan, reveals Ehsan Mani

Pakistan have literally paid a big price in their desperate attempt to resume international cricket at home. In the wake of the attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in 2009, Pakistan were forced to adapt UAE as their home ground as teams refused to visit them due to security reasons. They had to host their home games in UAE for nearly a decade.

Things have started to change as of now as a number of teams have visited them in the last one year. The likes of West Indies, Sri Lanka and most recently Sri Lanka visited Pakistan. Pakistan are also staging the entire Pakistan Super League (IPL) on their soil for the very first time. But the resumption of international cricket at home did not come cheap.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ehsan Mani has revealed that the board had to go out of their way to make players come to Pakistan during the initial days. Speaking at the National Assembly Standing Committee on InterProvincial Coordination (IPC) in Islamabad on Friday, Mani made a baffling revelation as he claimed that before his arrival, the board had paid a whopping USD 25,000 (INR 18.5 lakhs) each to Windies players for a series in Pakistan, and players of another team were paid USD 15,000 (INR 11.1 lakhs) for a tour.

Ehsan Mani took charge of PCB in 2018

Mani took charge of the cricket board in 2018. Before him, West Indies had visited Pakistan. They had also hosted a World XI side for a three-match T20I series right after their historic triumph in the ICC Champions Trophy. Mani also insisted that since he took over, no additional payment was made to the players for visiting Pakistan.

“But this PCB regime has not paid anything extra to any player for playing in Pakistan,” he was quoted as saying by Dawn. “Pakistan hosted Sri Lanka and other teams which was a big boost for Pakistan cricket.”

In another startling claim, Ehsan Mani said that the PCB gives about 14 per cent free tickets of the PSL. When the details of the freebies were asked, he said that some policemen were also given the tickets as they wouldn’t allow even the board officials to enter the stadium.

“If we will not give them tickets[to police], then they will stop our entry into our own stadium,” he remarked.