Former ICC president not happy with Pakistan delaying Zimbabwe tour

Ehsan Mani believes Pakistan pulling out of the series is just not cricket

Former International Cricket Council (ICC) president Ehsan Mani stated his discontent against Pakistan, calling the move to postpone the Zimbabwe tour past the September 30 cut-off date for the 2017 Champion Trophy to be ‘manipulative’, reported Indo-Asian News Service.

According to reports, Zimbabwe wanted to convert the series into a tri-series with West Indies included but Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in an attempt to safeguard their place moved the dates of the series to September 26 with T20s being played first.

The tri-series was originally scheduled from August 17 to September 7.

"The fact that Pakistan has pulled out of the tri-series is simply not cricket and goes against the spirit of the game," stated Mani, the ICC president from 2003-2006, as quoted by NDTV.

Pakistan beat Sri Lanka 3-2 in the ODI series to move up to the eighth place with 90 points leaving West Indies behind who are on 88 points. After the satisfaction of qualification, the PCB delayed the series against Zimbabwe from September 24 to October 5.

"Unfortunately, since the ICC meddled with the binding nature of the Future Tours Programme (FTP) last year, there is no obligation on any country to stick to commitments made to tour unless these have been confirmed in a binding contact," said Mani who is of Pakistan origin.

"This free for all nature of tour commitment opens it to manipulation which is exactly what has happened in this case. It also shows just how blindly the cricket boards agreed to the changes in the FTP without understanding the consequences."

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has come under fire from several quarters over the regional side's failure to advance to the 2017 Champions Trophy.

In recent weeks, both WICB president Dave Cameron and CEO Michael Muirhead have blamed Pakistan for the West Indies missing the Champions Trophy.