Will Team India play in this year’s Asia Cup? This is the question that has become the talk of the town in the Indian cricketing fraternity. While India have the hosting rights for the competition this year, there is a big question mark over their participation in the tournament.
The reason behind it is India’s recent border skirmish against Pakistan. In the wake of the deadly Pahalgam terror attack, India launched military strikes on Pakistan. The episode has further deteriorated the bilateral relation between the two nations.
There are now calls from several quarters to boycott Pakistan completely. Recently, the match between India Champions and Pakistan Champions in the World Championship of Legends was called off after public outrage. India and Pakistan have not played a bilateral series against each other since 2012/13 season.
However, they have been facing each other in the Asia Cup and the ICC tournament. There are now calls to boycott Pakistan in the global and continental tournaments as well. As a result, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is yet to take a final call on the upcoming edition of the Asia Cup.
According to reports, the BCCI is once again waiting for the government’s decision on the issue. The BCCI has been following the government’s directive on playing against Pakistan and is reportedly set to follow the same path for the Asia Cup as well.
Have India boycotted the Asia Cup before?
If India go on to boycott the Asia Cup this year, it will not be the first time that they would take such a step. Even in the past, they boycotted the continental championship once.
The year was 1986 when Sri Lanka hosted the second edition of the tournament. India had won the inaugural edition in 1984 before deciding to boycott the 1986 edition due to strained relations with Sri Lanka. With India pulling out, Bangladesh replaced them. As a result, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh participated in the tournament.
In 1990-91, Pakistan also boycotted the tournament due to strained political relations with India while the 1993 edition was completely called off for the same reason.
India have played in every edition since missing the second edition and it will now be interesting to see how BCCI responds in the coming days. Meanwhile, India are the defending champions of the tournament. In 2023, they thrashed Sri Lanka to win the tournament for a record eighth time.