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Debasis Sen, Dubai: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ehsan Mani on Sunday stated Imran Khan’s recent tweet will have no bearing on cricket. The newly elected Pakistan Prime Minister’s recent tweet has created a furore in India.

Disappointed at the arrogant & negative response by India to my call for resumption of the peace dialogue. However, all my life I have come across small men occupying big offices who do not have the vision to see the larger picture.

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) September 22, 2018

According to the PCB Chairman, “Imran Khan’s statement, don’t look at it in isolation. India had a statement too, unfortunate, people were killed in Kashmir, so it was personally a dig at Imran, so this was a reaction. Politicians when they speak, we don’t get into it; we shouldn’t. Our focus is on cricket, dialogue on cricket.” Mani also added that the former Pakistan captain always encouraged Pakistan to play India. “There was a similar situation when Kargil (war in 1999) happened, same time PCB and BCCI didn’t stop dialogues, were involved with the ICC. Cricket was tough, yes, but effort was made to amend relationships. I believe very strongly politics has no role to play in cricket. Cricket is being used as a tool if it is brought in. Like the previous governments, Imran has always encouraged Pakistan to play India,” said Mani to the media here. A bitter dispute between India's refusal to play Pakistan in a bilateral series, even at a neutral venue, citing the government refusal has resulted in the PCB taking the legal recourse. The proceedings are set to culminate in a three-day independent hearing scheduled to be held at the ICC headquarters here next week. Mani, who returned as the PCB chief last month, said he would have tried to avoid the legal course had he been in charge at the time of the dispute.“There’s a process that has started, and it’s in its last stages. Whatever has to happen has happened, the final statements will happen from October 1 to 3 in Dubai where the arbitration panel set up by the ICC. So at this stage, making a comment won’t be right. The process has taken a lot of ground,” said the former ICC President. The PCB chairman also cited the example how Raj Singh Dungarpur and Jagmohan Dalmiya took initiative in resuming bilateral ties in 2003. “For the betterment of the game both India and Pakistan need to resume cricketing ties. The boards need to hold talks among themselves and solve the issues. During 2002 both the countries were in a similar situation, not playing bilateral series. I went to India in 2003 to hold talks with the then BCCI officials. Believe me both Jagmohan Dalmiya and Raj Singh Dungarpur took initiative in holding talks with the Indian ministry. More than me the BCCI officials were pushing to resume the bilateral ties. Our focus would be to have such relationship between the two boards.”