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[cricket_news]

India forced Asia split on 2011 World Cup - Mani
14 May 2009, 5:50 am



Ehsan Mani, former ICC president, believes Pakistan was manoeuvred out of its hosting rights for the 2011 World Cup by a split within the Asian bloc, led by India, and an inert ICC approach to examine viable solutions. Pakistan, said Mani, was thus left with no choice but to begin legal proceedings against the decision.

Mani, who served as president from 2003-06, is acting as an advisor to the PCB in the dispute and is widely thought to be man who prompted the move to initiate legal action. He has told the PCB, however, to keep "back-channel communications" with the ICC open throughout the dispute.

"I'm afraid so and I'm very sorry to say it," Mani told Cricinfo, when asked whether India had manipulated the situation to its advantage in order to squeeze Pakistan out of the tournament. "This was a time when India should have come forward, shown leadership and said 'It's all four of us as hosts, or none of us.'

"Asia got worried they would lose the 2011 World Cup altogether and decided to dump Pakistan. It is the first time in my 20 years association that I have seen Asia split this way. It speaks volumes of the PCB's PR perhaps," Mani said.

Mani also took aim at the ICC, saying it had not shown enough initiative in searching for a solution to Pakistan's plight. "The ICC should have looked at the security situation as a whole, they should have at least met with Pakistan beforehand. When I was president, there was a lot of pressure to suspend Zimbabwe. I refused, until I had met them personally. I did and eventually they asked to be suspended themselves.

"There was no pre-meeting dialogue with the PCB here and ICC should have taken the lead in that. Pakistan is a problem, so let's talk to them. I said to the ICC you should have thought of alternative solutions. They said the PCB had not put any such proposal forward but the ICC should have been examining these things.

"Many things were wrong. The ICC should have done an assessment of all four countries and gotten governments involved. Also, if Pakistan gets the Champions Trophy hosting fee even if that event was taken away, why does the same logic not apply for the World Cup?"

Acknowledging that the relationship between the ICC and the PCB are "not good," Mani said Pakistan was left with no other option. "They were between a rock and a hard place. They were marginalised, losing the hosting money - what was their choice? Roll over quietly, or make some noise? Pakistan feel they were misled at the meeting and had no idea this was going to happen. One should have been upfront about it."

Mani has advocated swapping the World Cups of 2011 and 2015, so that the next tournament is switched to Australia and New Zealand and the 2015 edition comes to the subcontinent. He asked the ICC about the swapping option and was told that "Australia and New Zealand were happy to host the 2011 World Cup but also wanted to keep the 2015 tournament."

But Mani urged the PCB to keep the doors of communication open with the ICC. "Ties between the two are not great. What I've advised them is to keep the legal process on but along with a high-level diplomatic process. Keep that channel open. I told the PCB that professional advice was needed but keep talking to them. I tried to speak to the ICC but couldn't get through to them. They kept saying 'you don't know all the facts' which I found disappointing."

Osman Samiuddin is Pakistan editor of Cricinfo



Source: India news from Cricinfo

[Libran]

Pakistan is clutching at straws

It is like people who want to blame Ganguly for everything... including Rajat Bhatia's innocous bowling that gets wickets

[justforkix]

Well ICC has clearly clarified that PCB is still the WC host, although it will not host any matches 

[sudzz]

Do the Paki's really think they can continue to be hosts if Indian govt refuses to allow the BCCI to be joint hosts? what If the Indian govt. refuses visas for players, officials etc from across the border?

Will the World Cup even happen if BCCI is not a part of it?

Someone ought to call their bluff and BCCI should say ok we withdraw as hosts lets Pak/Bang/SL host the W'Cup and we won't participate at all, No TV rights, no advertising no nothing and to boot India should hold a unofficial W'Cup at the same time....

[keep-it-cool]

Do the Paki's really think they can continue to be hosts if Indian govt refuses to allow the BCCI to be joint hosts? what If the Indian govt. refuses visas for players, officials etc from across the border?

Will the World Cup even happen if BCCI is not a part of it?

Someone ought to call their bluff and BCCI should say ok we withdraw as hosts lets Pak/Bang/SL host the W'Cup and we won't participate at all, No TV rights, no advertising no nothing and to boot India should hold a unofficial W'Cup at the same time....

Why? What purpose will that serve?

If the BCCI has initiated this move, it is good because the ICC would never have woken up till the eleventh hour. And the ICC has acted in line with India's interests. Why scuttle an ICC event then?

It is also fair to compensate the PCB for any fixed costs that they may have incurred or some loss of earnings due to their inability to host the matches.

[Cover Point]

Pakistan is clutching at straws

It is like people who want to blame Ganguly for everything... including Rajat Bhatia's innocous bowling that gets wickets

or people who blame chappel for everything. Even for doing the right things like kicking ganguly out of Indian team and making us so much better!

[LosingNow]

Why are Pakis so jealous of India? Leave us alone, you losers!
--
IPL is a joke but match-fixing is a serious matter: Miandad
15 May 2009, 1457 hrs IST, PTI 
 
KARACHI: He may consider the Indian Premier League a joke but former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad feels there is a serious possibility of matches  being fixed in the cash-rich Twenty20 event.

Miandad said the league, currently underway in South Africa, has been witness to some surprising results where teams have lost from winning positions.

"There is a definite smell of match-fixing coming from the IPL where strange things are happening," he said on Friday.

"I don't consider IPL as cricket, it is a joke. It is strange that players who are not regular bowlers have taken hat-tricks in the league. Teams are losing matches from winning positions," he said.

Miandad feels the International Cricket Council (ICC) needs to step in and check possible corruption in the event.

"If at all such Twenty20 leagues must be held they should be held under the direct supervision of the ICC or else there will always be fear of corruption taking place in matches," he said.

Miandad said it was strange that the ICC's anti-corruption unit was not present in the IPL despite the big money at stake and the number of foreign players involved in the competition.

The IPL orgnanisers rejected an ICC offer to have the anti-corruption unit supervise this year's tournament and have arranged for their own security and anti-corruption officers.

The ICC had asked for $1.2 million from the Indian board to cover the costs of their ACU activities in the IPL which was rejected.

"The ICC must stop the IPL because it is damaging the sport and forcing players to change their loyalties," he said.

Miandad, also a former coach of the Pakistan team, cited the example of West Indian captain Chris Gayle, who wants to give up national captaincy.

"He reached England just two days before his country's Test against England from the IPL which I think is an insult to Test cricket," he noted. 

[sudzz]

Do the Paki's really think they can continue to be hosts if Indian govt refuses to allow the BCCI to be joint hosts? what If the Indian govt. refuses visas for players, officials etc from across the border?

Will the World Cup even happen if BCCI is not a part of it?

Someone ought to call their bluff and BCCI should say ok we withdraw as hosts lets Pak/Bang/SL host the W'Cup and we won't participate at all, No TV rights, no advertising no nothing and to boot India should hold a unofficial W'Cup at the same time....

Why? What purpose will that serve?

If the BCCI has initiated this move, it is good because the ICC would never have woken up till the eleventh hour. And the ICC has acted in line with India's interests. Why scuttle an ICC event then?

It is also fair to compensate the PCB for any fixed costs that they may have incurred or some loss of earnings due to their inability to host the matches.

There can either be hosts with hosting rights or no hosts, why and how does Pakistan qualify for any sort of compensation? Inability to host is due to reluctance of participating nations to go there. Therefore its not incumbent on the ICC to compensate them in anyway.

Thats the reason why Iam saying BCCI can and should scuttle the W'Cup by disassociating from it.

Let the ICC categorically state that the hosts are India/SL and Bang or India should withdraw.

[keep-it-cool]

Well the ICC has already said so. It has withdrawn the event from Pakistan.

Compensation for any specific costs that the PCB may have already incurred is desirable to avoid them incurring losses due to factors that may not be entirely in their control. Pakistan has thrown up some of the most talented players in the past and world cricket will be poorer if Pakistan goes the Windies way. A financially sound PCB is a must not just for Pak cricket but for world cricket as a whole.