Asian Cricket Council (ACC) might decide against hosting Asia Cup 2023 in Pakistan at all, according to a report from news agency PTI.
While Pakistan do have the hosting rights for this year’s continental championship, their poor bilateral relation with India have made things tricky. In 2018, India had the hosting rights for the Asia Cup but the tournament had to be shifted to the UAE.
Last year, BCCI secretary and ACC chairman Jay Shah had made it clear that India won’t be visiting Pakistan for this year’s Asia Cup. And recently reports emerged that while Pakistan could still host the tournament, India would play their games at a neutral venue. The report also suggested that the final would also take place outside Pakistan if India qualify for the title-decider.
Asia Cup 2023 could move out of Pakistan:
In the latest turn of events ahead of this year’s Asia Cup, PTI has reported that Pakistan might not be able to host the competition at all. The reason behind it is that hosting the continental event across two countries won’t be viable commercially as it may exceed the budget for the tournament.
“Playing its Asia Cup games in Pakistan is concerned, the budget for the tournament is passed by the Asian Cricket Council. If ACC says that it’s not a commercially viable proposition to hold Asia Cup in two countries, how can Pakistan play its games at home? ACC, for all you know, might not pass the budget,” a board source told the news agency.
The report further stated that the BCCI top brass believe PCB is putting pressure to host the entire Asia Cup in Pakistan. In recent times, the PCB has stated that it might deciding sending the Pakistan team to India for this year’s World Cup if the Men in Blue do not visit Pakistan for Asia Cup.
“We understand that this is a kind of pressure tactic applied by PCB because of the Asia Cup issue. But let me tell you, ultimately, Asia Cup will also be played in UAE or Qatar and probably Pakistan will also have to play its matches in one of these countries,” a BCCI source said.