‘Mohsin Naqvi has his own airplane…’: Ex-PAK star condemns PCB chief for not going to Champions Trophy final

Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali expressed his displeasure over PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi’s absence from the Champions Trophy final presentation ceremony. ICC chairman Jay Shah was present during the ceremony alongside BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia, president Roger Binny and and New Zealand Cricket’s CEO Roger Twose. Pakistan hosted the Champions Trophy, which was the first ICC event in the country after 29 years, but India didn’t travel there due to political tensions between the two nations. The ICC adopted the hybrid model and the Men in Blue played all their matches in Dubai. Despite being the hosts of the mega event, there was no PCB representative on the podium.

PCB chief operating officer Sumair Ahmed, who was the tournament director of the Champions Trophy, was present for the final between India and New Zealand but not invited on stage for the final presentation.

Basit suggested that PCB chief Naqvi should have travelled to Dubai and said he owns a private plan and could have returned the same night after attending the event.

“Mohsin Naqvi, who is the PCB chairman, should have gone to Dubai. This is my view. Because he has his own airplane. Being the host of the Champions Trophy, he could have gone and come back the same night. Only he knows better what problem was there. But he should have gone,” he said on his YouTube channel ‘Basit Ali’.

The PCB is still waiting for a formal clarification from the ICC on the issue of not having their representative on the podium. However, the cricket governing body is unlikely to give any clarification on the matter.

‘ICC chief should have been seated elsewhere’

Basit further criticised ICC chief Jay Shah for sitting alongside the BCCI office bearers and saying he would be careful of the media.

“Jay Shah was there. He also made a little mistake. He is not the BCCI secretary now. He is the ICC head. He should have been seated elsewhere. When you get a position like this you need to be careful of the media too. There was no one from Pakistan in prize distribution because the PCB chairman was not there,” he added.