The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has confirmed to the ICC officials that there had been no decision taken on boycotting the 2023 ODI World Cup which will be held in India and the threat was only made to exert pressure on BCCI to send the Men in Blue to Pakistan for the Asia Cup next year.
The hosting rights of the 2023 edition of the 50-over Asia Cup have been awarded to Pakistan by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) as a precursor to the marquee World Cup in India (October-November 2023).
However, in September this year, ACC president and BCCI secretary Jay Shah confirmed that India will not travel to Pakistan for the tournament and instead the Asia Cup will be moved to a neutral location. This led to the PCB threatening to pull out of the World Cup in India.
But now reports have said that outgoing PCB chief Ramiz Raja has told the International Cricket Council officials that the Board has not made any decision not to send its team to India for the 50-over World Cup.
The ICC officials, including chief executive officer Geoff Allardice, were in Pakistan as guests to watch the home Test series against England.
“Ramiz assured the ICC officials that PCB had made no decision on not sending its team to India for the World Cup nor was it in favor of boycotting such a mega event but because of the strained cricket relations between the two countries, the PCB had to exert pressure to get the Indian board to send its team for Asia Cup,” a source aware of the development told PTI.
ICC officials had told to Ramiz their concerns regarding his statements about Pakistan not playing in next year’s World Cup in India if the Indian team does not participate in the Asia Cup.
But the source also said that Ramiz Raja told ICC officials in a stern tone that PCB would not accept the 2025 Champions Trophy being moved from the country on the pretext that India may not travel to Pakistan.
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”Ramiz was very clear that Pakistan will not be receptive to the tournament being moved anywhere else because of India as it had already started heavy investment on building or renovating infrastructure for the ICC event.
Ramiz reminded the ICC officials that the executive board which included India had given hosting rights of the Champions Trophy to Pakistan, so there should be no confusion as to where the tournament will be held on schedule,” the source said.
India hasn’t traveled to Pakistan since the 2008 Asia Cup, and after the Mumbai terrorist attack on November 26 that year, the scheduled bilateral series in early 2009 was canceled. India and Pakistan last played a bilateral series in 2012-13 which was played in India.
But the two countries only play in ICC and ACC events since then.
(PTI inputs)
