Former ICC President Ehsan Mani slams BCCI

Reacting strongly to Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary Sanjay Patel's comments that the BCCI would have floated an alternate cricket body if the International Cricket Council (ICC) did not agree to its demands, former ICC President Ehsan Mani termed the comments as 'laughable'. Speaking to Cricbuzz heres what Mani said, "The threat by BCCI that it would have formed a parallel ICC is laughable".

Mani, who is in Paris currently, further went on to say, "If the ICC, supported by ECB, CA, Pakistan and South Africa, had the moral strength to stand up to the threats from BCCI, BCCI would have without doubt backed off once it realised that it could not make money by playing only against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, New Zealand or West Indies. I have no doubt that Sri Lanka would not have supported BCCI in such a situation. It is the opposition that matters when it comes to commercial values. BCCI would have found out that its so called financial clout was a paper tiger.

Mani also commented on BCCI's fraught relationship with Pakistan, "Although India has not been playing against Pakistan, BCCI would have tried to cut a deal with PCB as that would have been a bigger money earner for it than playing against England or Australia. With Pakistan not in BCCI's camp, better sense would have prevailed."

Finally, Mani doesnt agree that BCCI is the real financial arbiter of world cricket, "It is not BCCI that generates money for cricket out of India, it is the attraction of the game for the Indian broadcasters and major corporations and the hard-headed professionals who run these businesses. With only second-tier opposition, the real value of BCCI's financial contribution to world cricket would have been exposed. In fact, it would have shown England, Australia and South Africa what their contribution to the BCCI coffers was really worth. Instead of putting the game first, ECB and CA saw this as an opportunity to make money for themselves and take control of world cricket."

He concluded saying, "The biggest casualty in all this is the ICC Development Program which is set to lose the major part of its funding; the game will be poorer for it."