The future of the 2023 Asia Cup cricket tournament, which was slated to be hosted by Pakistan in September of this year, is now in doubt after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) declared that they would not be traveling to Pakistan to compete in the continental event.
During a meeting held in Bahrain on Saturday (February 4), BCCI Secretary Jay Shah, who is also the President of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), reiterated that India would not be travelling to Pakistan and that the tournament would have to be held elsewhere. It is expected that the new venue will be announced sometime next month.
India has not visited Pakistan since 2008, and there were hopes that the Men in Blue would make the journey after a 15-year hiatus this year, but it is not to be. After the BCCI made its stance clear at the Asian Cricket Council meeting on Saturday, Pakistani media reports that the Pakistan Cricket Board has also declared that Pakistan’s men’s cricket team will not travel to India to participate in the ODI World Cup later this year if the Asia Cup tournament is relocated from Pakistan.
According to Pakistani journalist Farid Khan and other Pakistani news outlets, at the ACC meeting, PCB chief Najam Sethi met with Jay Shah and informed him of Pakistan’s decision. The veteran administrator, who replaced Ramiz Raja last year, declared, “If India refuses to play in Pakistan, then we will not play in India either, and Pakistan will not participate in the 2023 World Cup.”
“If you won’t come to play in Pakistan, we won’t play in India either and there would be no Pakistan in the 2023 World Cup,” Najam Sethi told Jay Shah about Pakistan’s stance in the ACC meeting.
This is what happened in the meeting. Watch https://t.co/PtNvAwxINk pic.twitter.com/dOSSdVfYlM
— Farid Khan (@_FaridKhan) February 4, 2023
Earlier, when Ramiz was Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), he declared that Pakistan would boycott the 2023 ODI World Cup if India refused to travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup. According to various Indian media reports, the 2023 edition of the Asia Cup is set to be held in the United Arab Emirates, with Pakistan having the hosting rights.
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