ISLAMABAD – New Pakistan cricket chief Ehsan Mani said on Saturday hisboard would review their stance on global leagues and seek assurances fromthe game s governing body.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) earlier this year restricted its playersparticipation to one league other than their own Pakistan Super League toreduce their workload.
The mushrooming of the leagues has also endangered the future of thetraditional five-day game with some players giving up red-ball cricket toenure maximum earnings through Twenty20 and T10 (ten overs a side game)leagues.
Despite criticism, PCB released 10 of its highest-paid contracted playersto participate in the T10 league, held in Sharjah last year, including thecurrent captain Sarfraz Ahmed, Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Amir.
The league was a big hit and will be extended to eight teams from six andwill be held from November 23 to December 2 this year.
But Mani, speaking at the Asia Cup, said his board will seek assurancesfrom the International Cricket Council (ICC).
“I didn t understand the rationale on what basis we committed our playersfor the leagues,” Mani told reporters. “The main criteria, which Iunderstand, was that how much money PCB gets and how much players will get.
“But they (the previous set up of the PCB) did not look at the playersworkload. So I will examine all the leagues in which Pakistan playersparticipates.
“We need to do the due diligence in whichever leagues we are participatingwhether they are credible or not.”
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Mani said he has asked the ICC to give assurance of the fairness of theleagues.
“I am holding back my position (on T10) until I get full satisfaction… soI have requested the ICC to look into it again.
“I need assurances from the ICC because they have sanctioned it.”
The lucrative Indian Premier League was rocked in 2013 over match-fixingallegations, resulting in a two-year ban on two franchises and a life banon international player Shanthakumaran Sreesanth.
The same year Bangladesh Premier League was hit by fixing scandal, withseven players charged.
Pakistan s own PSL — held in the United Arab Emirates since 2016 — wasrocked by spot-fixing scandals in its second year that resulted infive-year bans for openers Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif. – APP/AFP
