ICC Cricket World Cup 2019: PCB Chairman Suggests Star Sports be Fair in Making Ads

The star sports advertisement for the upcoming match between India and Pakistan at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 on Sunday has been in the headlines lately. Many criticized the revised version of the ‘mauka mankad ad made by the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 broadcaster, Star Sports.

The Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ehsan Mani also criticized star sports campaign for the high-voltage match between arch-rivals, India and Pakistan at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 on June 16 at Manchester.

Mani suggested that ICC should look into the matter as Star is the broadcaster of ICC and not only an Indian broadcaster. “I think this is for the ICC to take note. Star is the host broadcaster. They are not an Indian broadcaster, they are the broadcaster of the ICC. They should be fair to all teams. That the teasers are not part of cricket.”

The advertisement trolls Pakistan about the fact that they have not beaten India at the ICC World Cups. Star India also poked Pakistan in the ad where it is shown that the match between India and Pakistan is scheduled on Father’s day, depicting India as the father of Pakistan.

Ehsan Mani also talked about MS Dhoni’s insignia controversy. MS Dhoni wore the wicketkeeping gloves with the Indian Army insignia printed on it in India’s ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 opener against South Africa.

However, the gesture didn’t go down well with the ICC has the council warned Dhoni to not to wear those gloves in his following matches at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. Consequently, MS Dhoni did not wear those gloves in India’s next match against Australia. The Pakistani players had decided to play celebrate every wicket in a different style in response to Dhoni’s gloves. However, Mani suggested that the Pakistani players will not react differently against India.

He said, “You won’t get any spillover from the Pakistan side. They are there to play cricket, full stop. We don’t need to make gestures. I have always seen cricket as a tool to create goodwill and better understanding. We should keep it like this. It’s a sport. It’s a gentleman’s sport. That’s how it should be.”