Najam Sethi, the head of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), has stated that if his country loses the right to host the Asia Cup 2023 at home, Pakistan may boycott the forthcoming ICC ODI World Cup 2023, which is to be played in India.
Bilateral cricket between India and Pakistan has suffered due to the deteriorating political relations between the two nations over the past 10 years, and the two neighbors currently only play each other in ICC and ACC multi-team events conducted in neutral venues.
India opted not to travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup in September due to safety concerns, thus the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has offered to let them play their matches in the United Arab Emirates under a "hybrid model" that has been coined.
While the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has yet to respond formally to the offer, Sethi stated that India wanted the entire tournament relocated away from Pakistan.
"They want all the matches in a neutral venue. BCCI should take a good, rational decision so that we don't have any problems going forward. India should not be looking at a situation where we end up boycotting the Asia Cup and also the World Cup, and then India ends up boycotting the Champions Trophy. That will be a huge mess,” Sethi told Reuters.
The Asian Cricket Council may try to transfer the entire tournament out of Pakistan, according to local media reports. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have also expressed their opposition to competing in the UAE, citing the heat and logistical problems.
Sethi said that was “not acceptable” and reaffirmed that Pakistan may boycott the World Cup if that happened.
“That’s a very real possibility, of course,” he added.
Should India agree to the hybrid model for the Asia Cup, Sethi said, Pakistan would expect reciprocal terms for their team at the World Cup in October and November. He said that even PCB had concerns about playing in India and wanted its World Cup games in Bangladesh or UAE.
"We also have security concerns for our team in India. So let Pakistan play its matches in Dhaka or Mirpur, UAE or in Sri Lanka. "This is the solution going forward, until such time that India agrees to play Pakistan, in Pakistan and outside Pakistan, bilaterally,” he added.
BCCI Secretary Jay Shah was not immediately available for comment but neither the Indian board nor the International Cricket Council (ICC) have said they are even considering staging any World Cup matches outside India.
“We worked so hard to bring international cricket back to Pakistan. Every major country has toured Pakistan in the last few years. You name them, they’ve all been there. They all appreciated the security arrangements. That’s not a problem anymore,” Sethi added.
Sethi blamed the BCCI’s “stubbornness” for failing to turn it into the greatest rivalry in cricket.
“The India-Pakistan game is the biggest in town. It’s bigger than Australia v England, it’s bigger than India v Australia. How can we jeopardize that by a stubbornness? The Indian bridge team has been to Pakistan, the Indian kabaddi team has been to Pakistan, and the Indian baseball team has been to Pakistan. “So what’s going on? Why can’t the Indian cricket team come to Pakistan?” he said.
(Reuters report)
