PCB Chief Ehsan Mani terms Sarfaraz Ahmed's punishment as 'utter nonsense'

In the recently concluded bilateral series between Pakistan and South Africa, the regular skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed suffered a four-match ban by the apex body, International Cricket Council (ICC) after reflecting on his racist comments on the opposition counterpart Andile Phehlukwayo.

In the second of five-game One Day International series, Sarfaraz Ahmed was heard making a racist comment on the stump mic and immediately made it to the headlines for every wrong reason. The punishment, however, in the eyes of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief is nothing but ‘utter nonsense’.

Termed the punishment as ‘Utter Nonsense’

The PCB Chief Ehsan Mani believes that the board made an apology at all levels and ICC shouldn’t have come between two cricketing bodies. He further said that PCB shares a good affectionate concordance with Cricket South Africa (CSA), which could have solved the matter there itself if ICC wouldn’t have chipped in.

Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Mani said, “We made an apology at all levels and it had been accepted by everyone. We have a good relationship with CSA (Cricket South Africa). For the ICC to jump in because Phehlukwayo was upset and didn’t want a reconciliation process, [and to feel they] have to charge Sarfraz, that’s where I think a bit of nonsense comes into this. What else can you achieve by sitting them in a room? They’re not school children.”

Mani further criticized the apex body for failing to get the two players – Sarfraz and Phehlukwayo – in the same room to resolve the issue. “This is my issue that they sat on it. Our statements and apologies were public. This is not something you brush under the table, it has to be dealt with openly and transparently. We did all of that. But because ICC couldn’t get the two players in a room together, they said let’s charge him. And that to my mind is utter nonsense,” he added.

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