PCB Chief Ehsan Mani confirms no Pakistan player will feature in Asia XI

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) in a press release had confirmed that it will grace the birth centenary of ‘Bongobondhu’ Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founder of Bangladesh, by staging two T20 fixtures in March between the Asia XI and the World XI. While the world cricket body ICC has given official status to these games, the fans from all across the world are eagerly waiting to see both the teams go all guns blazing.

However, by looking at the present situation between India and Pakistan, one would come to a firm conclusion that it will be either India or Pakistan players who would be filling the names in the Asia XI team sheet. It should be noted that India and Pakistan have not participated in a bilateral series for the last seven years and they are only competing in global events.

Moreover, the situation has gone from bad to worse in recent times with Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chief Ehsan Mani taking a dig at the Indian government by highlighting the fact that the current security situation in India is far worse when compared to Pakistan.

PCB Chief had also announced that they won’t be hosting their home games in neutral venues as cricket has returned to Pakistan while adding that all teams should be happy to play in Pakistan. Recently, Sri Lanka played in Pakistan and lost the two-match Test series against the hosts. The visitors signed off satisfied with safety and security measures after Pakistan’s first-ever home Test series in 10 years.

No Pakistan player in Asia XI for Bangladesh T20s: PCB Chief

Meanwhile, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ehsan Mani made it very clear that Pakistan cricketers will not be able to take part in the Asia XI team that will lock horns with World XI in two official T20 matches on March 18 and 21 next year, in Bangladesh, because the dates are coinciding with the Pakistan Super League (PSL) schedule.

“The Asia XI match is during the PSL. We did explore with BCB the possibility of the match date being changed but BCB were not able to do this for understandable reasons. Unfortunately, the media hypes as ever are a distortion of the facts,” Ehsan Mani told Sportstar via text message.

If media reports doing the rounds are to be believed, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will be releasing as many as five players for the tournament. Needless to say, on Thursday, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly refused to talk about the issue.