LAHORE: Former ICC president Ehsan Mani was Tuesday “unanimously” elected the new chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board at a special meeting of PCB’s governing board meeting held at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium.
The meeting had a one point agenda: Election of the PCB chairman.
The election was a mere formality as new Prime Minister and 1992 World Cup winning captain Imran Khan nominated Mani for the post to succeed Najam Sethi. Being the PM, Imran automatically becomes the chief patron of the PCB.
Mani will serve as chairman for the next three years.
Mani’s run in cricket administration comes at a full circle in a way as he had firstly represented the PCB at the ICC from 1989 to 1996, ESPNcricinfo reports. He was also the director of the ICC Finance and Marketing from 1996 to 2002, following which he was named the president of world cricket’s governing body from 2003 to 2006.
According to ESPNcricinfo, he has the reputation of being able to pool in money through his negotiation skills, being considered the pioneer of ICC commanding more from media rights sales.
His major challenge however, is to make a fair settlement in Pakistan’s favour when it comes to the legal dispute his predecessor Najam Sethi had begun against India over two un-played bilateral series in November 2014 and December 2015. The two arch rivals had signed an MoU. However, India has been unable to fulfil the commitment due to political tensions between the countries due to which the PCB has claimed to lose $70 million.
PCB and the BCCI are set to face off against the ICC’s dispute panel on October 1 regarding this issue.
