The BCCI has no issues with Pakistan owning the hosting rights of this year's Asia Cup T20 but the Indian team won't be travelling to the country and will need the tournament to be held at a neutral venue amid security concerns in the neighbouring land and the political tensions between the two countries, says a report in IANS.
India and Pakistan have had broken bilateral cricketing ties and faced each other in multiple-team events only, barring a series in 2012, since the Mumbai terrorist attacks more than a decade earlier.
While the Pakistan Cricket Board remains open to dialogue on the issue, the BCCI has time and again made it clear that talks over the matter can only go ahead after a green signal from the government regime here; going by the history of who's nature, it is highly unlikely that the Indian team will be allowed to step on the Pakistani shores for the game of cricket.
"The question isn't about the PCB hosting the tournament. It is about the venue and as things stand now, it is quite clear that we would need a neutral venue," a BCCI source close to the matter told IANS.
"There is no way that an Indian team can visit Pakistan to even participate in a multi-nation event like the Asia Cup. If the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is ok with an Asia Cup minus India then it is a different ball game. But if India is to participate in the Asia Cup, then the venue cannot be Pakistan."
Issues in obtaining the visa for Pakistani cricketers to come and play the 2018 edition of the Asia Cup in India was one major reason behind BCCI selling the hosting rights to Emirates Cricket Board and shifting the tournament to UAE.
The official said the PCB can also do the same. "A neutral venue is always an option. BCCI did it in 2018," the official pointed out.
Pakistan just recently hosted Test cricket for the first time in a decade since the Lahore terrorist attack on a travelling Sri Lankan team bus.
The Asia Cup T20 is being considered a good preparatory ground for the T20 World Cup in Australia that follows.
(Inputs from IANS)
