I am not talking to the BCCI about bilateral cricket: PCB chairman Ehsan Mani

It has been a well-known fact that India and Pakistan don’t share decent relations with each other owing to stiff political tensions all the time. Therefore, discussions on resuming bilateral series between the two nations can’t be opened up on the table. Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ehsan Mani is of the opinion that any sort of series can’t begin between two nations till the time political relations between them are not sorted.

Mani even made clear that he will not be requesting BCCI President Sourav Ganguly to let Pakistani players get into the Indian Premier League. The Men in Blue haven’t been part of any Test series on Pakistan soil for more than 14 years, and in the same way, neighbors haven’t visited India for around eight years. Keeping all the chaos aside, the two nations have locked horns with each other at the events like World Cup, Champions Trophy and Asia Cup for all these years.

“Over the years, the PCB has had a number of discussions with the BCCI regarding bilateral cricket. Whether it is T20 cricket or bilateral, all things are in the hands of the BCCI. At this moment, I don’t have any intention of playing any T20 league with India. First, they have to sort out the bilateral (political) relations with us, and then we will talk,” Mani said as quoted by News18.

I think ICC should be talking to BCCI: Mani

The only time Pakistan players featured in the IPL session was in the inaugural season where their 11 cricketers made part of various franchises. Speedster Sohail Tanvir even bagged the Purple Cap by getting 22 scalps to his credit playing for Rajasthan Royals. However, in the current scenario, the PCB chief isn’t interested to begin cricketing actions with India.

“I am not talking to the BCCI about bilateral cricket. It is up to them to speak to us if they have something to say. The ICC (International Cricket Council) constitution says there should be no government interference. So, I think ICC should be talking to them [BCCI],” Mani concluded, regarding the permission BCCI has to fetch from the Government of India before playing against Pakistan.