Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Najam Sethi on Monday (September 4) hit out at BCCI secretary Jay Shah, who is also the president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), over the selection of venues for the Asia Cup 2023 matches.
Sethi’s comment came amid the inclement weather playing spoilsport in the Asia Cup matches in Sri Lanka.
Notably, the island nation was not supposed to host the Asia Cup 2023. It was a last-minute decision as the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) had no choice but to opt for a hybrid model after BCCI refused to send its team to Pakistan, the original host for the continental tournament.
The hybrid model gave Pakistan the hosting rights of four games while rest of the fixtures including all of India’s matches and the final was scheduled in Sri Lanka.
In a lengthy post on social media platform X, Sethi claimed that he had requested the ACC to play the remaining matches of Asia Cup in UAE instead of Sri Lanka but the parent body didn’t consider his suggestion as they felt the weather would be too hot in Middle East.
“I pleaded for three approvals in various meetings with Jay Shah and ACC colleagues: Play all matches in Pakistan as international cricket had fully returned to Pakistan. When this was shot down I proposed that we play five matches in Pakistan and eight in the UAE. This also they rejected and hinted at giving the Asia Cup hosting rights to Sri Lanka if we didn’t budge,” Sethi wrote.
“Finally, after we said we might not participate, they scheduled four matches in Pakistan and posted the rest in Sri Lanka. We repeatedly pointed out that the rains forecast in SL would adversely impact match results and diminish crowds at stadiums. We also argued that gate receipts from UAE stadiums would be many times more than those in SL given economic considerations,” he added.
“When Mr Shah didn’t agree, a high level delegation of the Emirates Cricket Board flew to Mumbai to persuade BCCI to play the Asia Cup in UAE as in the past when two IPLs and one ACC ODI event was played there in the same weather conditions. BCCI refused to accept their request. Only Mr Shah can explain why these options were rejected and why Sri Lanka was accommodated against all reason, logic, and rationality. The choice of venues in Sri Lanka was also problematic as we have seen,” he further stated.
Meanwhile, a report published in Cricbuzz claims that the Super-4 fixtures of the Asia Cup 2023 and the tournament final are set to be shifted out of Colombo in the wake of heavy rains that have been lashing in Sri Lanka’s capital city.
According to the report, the rest of the Asia Cup matches in Sri Lanka-leg will be played Hambantota and the participating teams have been informed of this change.
The ACC has reportedly taken into consideration the weather patterns in Hambantota, where the precipitation levels there are much more favorable compared to Colombo.
While the chances of rain in Colombo exceed 50 percent in the next 10 days, the probability of rain in Hambantota is reportedly only 20 percent.
(With Cricbuzz Inputs)
