Former PCB chief responds to Shahid Afridi's 'ICU' remark

Former ICC and PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani has criticized former cricketers, including Shahid Afridi, accusing them of having personal agendas when discussing PCB and Pakistan cricket affairs.

Recently, Shahid Afridi claimed that the current PCB Chairman, Mohsin Naqvi, admitted to lacking knowledge about cricket. Afridi further stated that Pakistan cricket is in a dire state, likening it to a patient in the ICU, and called for immediate accountability.

“All the time we talk about preparations, and when an event comes and we flop, then we talk about surgery. The fact is, Pakistan cricket is in the ICU because of incorrect decisions,” Afridi said.

Mani responded to Afridi's criticism:

"I do not give any credibility to what Shahid Afridi or anyone else says. They have their personal agendas or whatever. So, I wouldn’t go there. No comment on that. All I would say is that leadership must come from the chairman and the board of directors of PCB. For the rest, I don’t give much credibility to these criticisms," Mani said.

Pakistan hosted the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 under 'fusion formula,' with India’s matches moved to Dubai. 

However, the tournament schedule was revealed only two months before the event, a decision that left Ehsan Mani unimpressed with the ICC’s management of the eight-team competition.

“It’s very disappointing the way it was managed. The responsibility for this is with the ICC. When they allocated events to India and Pakistan, knowing the current relations between the countries, then the onus was entirely on the ICC to ensure that the event and the issues that came up had been dealt with much, much before the tournament actually was starting,” said Mani.

“This was left to the 11th hour. It was totally wrong of the ICC not to have dealt with this much, much earlier. Got both the boards together and come up with an ICC solution, not a PCB or BCCI solution,” he added.