Former International Cricket Council president Ehsan Mani has advised the Pakistan Cricket Board to surrender the hosting rights of the Champions Trophy to avoid financial losses.
"Pakistan need to be more smart in the existing circumstances and not insist on hosting the tournament. It should have and can still allow it to be shifted to some other venue instead of facing financial losses," he told Geo News.
Mani, who was Pakistan's representative to the ICC for years, said the country's stand surprised him as it was obvious that some teams will not tour Pakistan for security reasons.
"The PCB should have taken the initiative and asked the ICC to shift the event to some other venue last month and made some financial gains instead of finding itself in a no-win situation," he said.
If the Champions Trophy is taken away from Pakistan to some other country, it can ask for a compensation of around US $3 million from the ICC.
The ICC executive committee is meeting in Dubai to discuss the fate of the Champions Trophy, which has been rescheduled to 2009 after it was postponed last month following security concerns raised by four teams.
A final decision on whether the tournament will be held in Pakistan next March is awaited.
Mani, a financial and marketing expert, said had the Champions Trophy been shifted last month the ICC would have earned around US $50 million and every participating nation would have had their share of US $3.5 million that Pakistan has now lost.
By not agreeing to shift the tournament, Mani said, Pakistan could suffer losses ranging between 5 to 10 million.
"They can easily demand that they be allocated a future CT as compensation and also get paid their share of US $3.75 million," he said.
He said it is still not too late and Pakistan should surrender hosting rights at the ongoing ICC meeting.
He also advised the PCB not to tour Australia until they reciprocate.
"Australia has not toured Pakistan since 1998 and in this period they have been to India several times where also there have been bomb blasts.
"I think they are the real culprits in convincing other teams not to tour Pakistan for security reasons. Pakistan should tell them clearly you come first or we will not tour your country," Mani said.
