PCB chief Ramiz Raja has confirmed that the Asia Cup 2023 will be played in Pakistan. The country last hosted the Asia Cup in 2008 and has since not managed to stage a multi-nation tournament.

After a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in 2009, Pakistan couldn’t host any international match in the country for the next six years. While the security condition has improved in recent times, they are yet to host top teams such as India, Australia, England, and New Zealand.

In what comes as a massive boost for PCB, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has reportedly decided to allot the hosting rights of Asia Cup 2023 to Pakistan.

According to a Cricbuzz report, the decision was taken in the ACC meeting in Dubai on Friday (October 15) where PCB was represented by chairman Raja.

The report also suggests that 2023 edition of the Asia Cup will be played in ODI format whereas the 2022 edition will be a T20 event to be hosted by Sri Lanka.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the multi-nation tournament couldn’t take place last year and it was postponed to 2022.

Notably, Pakistan had the hosting rights for the 2020 edition but BCCI had expressed its concerns over sending the Indian team to the country. Later, PCB swapped the hosting rights with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) but Sri Lankan could not host the competition in both 2020 and 2021 owing to the pandemic situation.

ACC might have awarded the hosting rights to Pakistan for the 2023 Asia Cup, it remains to be seen if BCCI will get approval from the government to send the Indian team to the neighboring country.

It is worth mentioning here that India and Pakistan have not played a bilateral series since 2012 due to the political hostilities between the two nations.

(With Cricbuzz inputs)