The BCCI and PCB put themselves on a collision course on Tuesday after BCCI secretary Jay Shah said the 2023 Asia Cup will be played at a neutral venue, promoting the neighbours to threaten a boycott of next year’s ODI World Cup. The hosting rights of the next 50-over Asia Cup has been awarded to Pakistan by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) as per a pre-cursor to the marquee World Cup in India. Incidentally, Shah is the president of the Asian Cricket Council.
The issue of India will be playing Asia Cup 2023 in Pakistan was stated in the notes circulated to the state associations of BCCI before the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the board in Mumbai on October 18.
We have decided to play at a neutral venue, Shah was quoted as saying by multiple cricket news platforms after conclusion of the 91st AGM.
Jay Shah
One of the reasons cited for not playing in Pakistan was that there has been precedence in the past of the continental event being shifted at a neutral venue.
India hasn’t Played in Pakistan since the 2008 edition of Asia Cup, and after the Mumbai terrorist attack on 26/11 in that year, the scheduled bilateral series in early 2009 was canceled.
Another reason cited was the Sri Lankan team bus being attacked by terrorists in Lahore, after which no international team visited the country for more than a decade due to security reasons.
On the other hand, Pakistan had travelled to India for a short six-match white-ball series in 2012, but in the last 10 years, there hasn’t been any bilateral cricket. The two teams have only played each other at various ICC and ACC events.
The PCB is irked as international cricket has resumed in the country with all top nations like England, Australia, and West Indies traveling there to play Tests and white-ball games.
Sources close to PCB chairman Ramiz Raja indicated that one of the options that they are mulling after Shah’s statement is to pull out of the 50-over ICC World Cup in India which is scheduled to be held next year in India.
The PCB is now prepared to take hard decisions and play hardball because it is also aware that the ICC and ACC events will have to face commercial liabilities and losses if Pakistan does not play India in these multi-team events, a senior PCB source told PTI on the condition of anonymity.
PCB
Here, it is pertinent to write, the two teams are not scheduled to play any bilateral games or series in the next five years including the remaining month of this year- as per ICC’s recent 2023-27 FTP cycle.
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