The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is reportedly planning for a five-nation tournament in India as the Asia Cup 2023 is likely to be cancelled given that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is firm on its stand of hosting the tournament in Pakistan.
The BCCI in October last year itself had announced that the Indian team will not travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup 2023, which sent ripples in Asian Cricket Council (ACC).
It was said that the entire tournament might be moved out of Pakistan as it was done in 2018 when India was to host Asia Cup and Pakistan refused to travel, leading the tournament to be shifted to UAE.
To break the deadlock, Pakistan presented a hybrid model for Asia Cup at the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting, under which other teams would play their matches in Pakistan, while the Indian team would play their matches in another country.
Two weeks ago, Shah, who is the chief of the ACC, said that the council is waiting for input from other participating countries to finalize the venue for Asia Cup.
“We are awaiting feedback from other nations to finalize the venue for the 2023 Asia Cup and clarity on the India-Pakistan match," Shah said during a media interaction.
“If we don’t play Asia Cup, we will face a loss of $3 million”- PCB chief Najam Sethi
However, sources told Cricket Pakistan, that the BCCI had rejected the hybrid model presented by the PCB as it remained firm in its stand to host matches in Pakistan. And this may result in cancelation of the event itself.
The possibility of holding the entire event in another country has been rejected by PCB, though Sri Lanka and the UAE had shown interest in hosting the tournament.
However, the PCB maintained that if the issue is not resolved now, the problem will continue in the future and difficulties can also arise in hosting the Champions Trophy in 2025.
PCB was also concerned about the reaction of the Pakistan public to the Asia Cup being moved out of the country and hence rejected the idea of shifting the tournament to UAE or another venue.
BCCI is also prepared for the cancellation of the Asia Cup. They have reportedly started planning for a five-nation tournament, which would be held during the window vacated by the cancellation of the Asia Cup.
However, if the tournament is canceled, it might affect Pakistan's preparations for the 2023 World Cup in India.
