The BCCI and PCB are in a tussle over the hosting rights of the Asia Cup 2023. While Pakistan have the hosting rights, the BCCI officials have time and again reiterated that India will not travel and the event would be shifted to a neutral venue.
As of today, the Pakistan Cricket Board has not agreed to the demand, leading to a deadlock. Recently, PCB proposed a ‘hybrid model’ to host the tournament. In such a model, India would have played their matches in UAE while Pakistan would have played their matches in homeland.
According to reports, however, the Asian Cricket Council has decided to move the Asia Cup 2023 out of Pakistan citing that the member nations have rejected the 'hybrid model'.
Amid the deadlock, PCB chairman Najam Sethi has also threatened to boycott the ODI World Cup in India later this year if the Asia Cup is shifted outside Pakistan.
However, former skipper Shahid Afridi urged the PCB to allow the Babar Azam-led side to travel to India, saying that Pakistan returning with the trophy will be a big slap to the BCCI.
"I don't understand why they [PCB] are so adamant and keep saying that we won't go to India. They need to simplify the situation and understand that an international cricket tournament is happening - take it rather positively; go and play. Tell your boys to get the trophy; the whole nation stands behind you. It'll not only be a big win for us but a tight slap on the face of BCCI," Afridi said on Samaa TV.
"Go to India, play decent cricket and claim the win. This is it; we have only this option resorted to ourselves. We are supposed to go there, land back with the World Cup and give them a steer clear message that we can go anywhere and bag the victory," he further added.
Notably, Team India haven’t travelled to Pakistan since the 2008 Asia Cup due to diplomatic tension. The last time two nations clashed in bilateral series was in 2012 when Pakistan toured India for two T20Is and three ODIs. On the other hand, the arch-rivals haven’t played Test cricket with each other since 2007.
