Karachi: Former Pakistan captain Rameez Raja, who had openly supported the ICC`s structural revamp process initiated by cricket boards from India, England and Australia, feels that PCB might just have missed out on extracting its own share of pie which would benefited country`s cricket.
"I don`t know but perhaps Pakistan might have missed out on a lot of achievements and concessions they could have got out of this issue. These changes are not surprising to me as I had earlier said that these were coming. Our cricket board should have looked after its own interests," Rameez said.
He said the face of cricket had changed and with India, Australia and England providing the main sponsorship and finances for the ICC events and bilateral series, it was expected they would push for more power.
Another former captain Rashid Latif said it was too early to say whether Pakistan had done the right thing by abstaining from voting at the ICC executive board meeting on Saturday in Singapore.
"Only time will tell whether we took the right decision by abstaining from voting but overall I think our stance was a principled one and I think these changes when implemented will have negative effects on world cricket," Latif said.
The former wicketkeeper-batsman also felt that while boards were free to earn as much as they wanted from bilateral series or tournaments but the money from ICC events needed to be distributed evenly among the members.
"I don`t buy this argument from India, Australia and England and obviously it is a ploy by the Indians to gain full control of world cricket," he said.
Legendary batsman Zaheer Abbas noted that cricket had undergone drastic changes in the last few decades and commercialism was now dominating the sport.
"I don`t want to go into the nitty-gritties of what these changes will mean for world cricket but I know one thing that money should not be the main factor for running world cricket.
"Too much money will eventually damage world cricket," Abbas said.
Former opener Mohsin Khan said that the PCB should have realized from the start that eventually they will be left alone after the way the South Africans backed out on Saturday.
"I just don`t know whether we have done the right thing because I feel this was the time for us to get maximum benefits because with so many boards supporting India, Australia and England these changes were going to come anyway," he said.
Arif Ali Abbasi a former PCB official said the big three should be called the corrupt three.
"I don`t know what the ICC is doing because they are court cases pending against Srinivasan and one does not know his future. India, Australia and England are out to destroy world cricket," Abbasi said.
"The ICC has always been a fair body but now I think these changes will change the balance and there will be problems in future for other boards. But I congratulate the PCB for sticking to their stance," he said.
