Last month, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) announced that the Men's ODI Asia Cup 2023 will take place in September and India-Pakistan would be in the same group along with a Qualifying team.
However, there’s still uncertainty over the venue of Asia Cup 2023. Pakistan have the hosting rights but BCCI secretary Jay Shah last year said that India will not travel and the event would be shifted to a neutral venue.
Recently, PCB chief Najam Sethi called for the ACC officials’ meeting to decide fate of Pakistan's Asia Cup hosting rights.
In order to attend the meeting, Jay Shah, who also holds the position of ACC chairman, has flown to Bahrain, PTI reported on Friday (February 3).
"Jay is in Bahrain for the ACC meeting. The BCCI's stand will not change. We will not be travelling to Pakistan as we haven't got any go-ahead from the government," a BCCI source quoted as saying by PTI.
According to the report, there is little to no chance of the Asia Cup being held in Pakistan. If at all, the tournament will either be shifted to UAE with PCB retaining the hosting rights or Sri Lanka could be the other option.
The report also claims that the recent bomb blasts in Peshawar has again raised security concerns about staging cricket matches in Pakistan.
When Jay Shah released the schedule of the Asia Cup last month, the venue wasn't mentioned. Subsequently, Sethi accused Shah of taking "unilateral decision", an allegation that ACC officially dismissed stating that repeated emails to PCB seeking recommendations on the itinerary went unanswered.
In October 2022, PCB had issued a statement, threatening to withdraw from the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 in India in case of any alteration to the Asia Cup venue.
"The PCB has noted with surprise and disappointment of yesterday's comments made by the ACC President Mr. Jay Shah with regards to shifting of next year's Asia Cup to a neutral venue. The comments were made without any discussion or consultation with the Board of the Asian Cricket Council or the Pakistan Cricket Board (event host) and without any thoughts towards their long-term consequences and implications," PCB had said in a release.
(With PTI Inputs)
