Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman (PCB) Ehsan Mani said that he has started the conversation with the Emirates Cricket Board to increase the chances of getting the right to host the ICC events.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is planning to bid for the ICC events in the cycle of 2023 to 2031 jointly with Emirates Cricket Board. “It is important for Pakistan cricket and its development to hosting major ICC tournaments said PCB Chairman Ehsan mani. “We had expressed our interest to host at least five to six events and we know that we won’t get the permission to host more than one or two events. But we also thought out of the box to host the ICC events jointly with another country”, Ehsan Mani said.
“I have already started talking with the Emirates Cricket Board for a collaboration to increase the chances of hosting events together but again it needs co-operation. There are few events with 16 games and then there are events with 30-40 games so depending on the scale of events the Workload can be divided among both of us”, Ehsan Mani said.
The ICC board has invited its Member nations to show interest until March 15 for 20 global events that are scheduled to be held in the 2023-2031 cycle but due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, the meetings have been deferred indefinitely further till the situation improves. “We want to make a serious expression of our interest in hosting the events and we will surely be getting full government support as well. The ICC delegation did meet with Dr. Fahmida Mirza, the Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination who also handles sports in Pakistan and ICC gave a very positive impression of our ability to host global events”, the PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani said.
Pakistan was going to host the 2008 Champions Trophy which later got postponed and the 2011 ODI World Cup but lost the hosting rights as several nations refused to tour Pakistan due to security issues in the view of rising terrorist attacks in the country. Pakistan first played its first test on home soil after a gap of ten years in December 2019.
Earlier in 2009, the Sri-Lankan team was going to Lahore for a test match with Pakistan when terrorists fired on their bus, this resulted in the death of eight Sri-Lankan players and staff while seven got injured. Since this International Cricket board had banned Pakistan and prohibited high profile teams visiting the country for a full-length tour.
