Indian Cricket Board bullish on chances of 2023 Asia Cup being moved out of Pakistan
The 2022 edition of the Asia Cup was last played in the UAE.
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Feb 4, 2023 4:25 pm
Jay Shah (Source: Twitter)
It is still not confirmed where the 2023 edition of the Asia Cup will be held. But reports are coming in that Jay Shah, the Indian Cricket Board secretary has gone to Bahrain where an emergency meeting will take place on Pakistan Cricket Board’s chairman Najam Sethi’s appeal. This will bring an end to the dispute concerning the hosting of the Asia Cup in 2023.
India are unvarying in their stance and are refusing to travel to Pakistan. Sethi expressed his interest in having a dialogue with Shah over the issue when the International League T20 was going on and he also persuaded the Asian Cricket Council to have an emergency meeting to settle the issue.
A source from the Indian Cricket Board stated that the chances of the Asia Cup being hosted by Pakistan are almost nil. “Jay is in Bahrain for the ACC meeting. The Indian Cricket Board’s stand will not change. We will not be travelling to Pakistan as we haven’t got any go-ahead from the government,” the source said on the issue.
A lot of talks have been going on, but the Indian Cricket Board have remained firm on their resolve that they will not travel to Pakistan, citing clearances from the government for India to play in Pakistan for the Asia Cup, slated to be held this year. If the tournament cannot be hosted in India or Pakistan, then another venue will host the multilateral tournament.
In this case, the continental tournament would likely be moved to Sri Lanka or the United Arab Emirates. The UAE hosted the last two editions in 2018 and 2022. The venue, even if it gets changed, will have no bearing on the hosting rights as they will solely be with the PCB as it happened with Sri Lanka in 2022 where UAE, was the venue and Sri Lanka was the host board.
The Asia Cup was won by Sri Lanka in 2022 in the UAE when it was held in the 20-20 format. The Islanders came back from their opening loss against Afghanistan to win the tournament in dominating fashion. They defeated India in the group stage and also beat Pakistan in the final to be crowned Champions of Asia under Dasun Shanaka.
