Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi made a shocking claim that the Indian team might be afraid of losing to Pakistan following their decision to change their mind in shifting the Super 4 games of the Asia Cup 2023 from Colombo to Hambantota.
The India team refused to travel to Pakistan, the original host of the Asia Cup 2023, citing political tension between the two nations and security concerns. As a result, the majority of the games were moved to Sri Lanka, where India was originally scheduled to play its entire schedule of the continental competition.
Taking His Social Media handle, Najam Sethi blasted the Asian Cricket Council for not moving the games from Colombo to Hambantota. He also questioned whether the Indian team is scared of losing to Pakistan in the next matches.
BCCI/ACC informed PCB today that they had decided to shift next India-Pak match from Colombo to Hambantota because of rain forecasts. Within one hour they changed their mind and announced Colombo as the venue. What’s going on? Is India afraid to play and lose to Pakistan ? Look… pic.twitter.com/8LXJnzoXNf
— Najam Sethi (@najamsethi) September 5, 2023
“BCCI/ACC informed PCB today that they had decided to shift next India-Pak match from Colombo to Hambantota because of rain forecasts. Within one hour they changed their mind and announced Colombo as the venue. What’s going on? Is India afraid to play and lose to Pakistan ? Look at the rain forecast.”
The exciting India-Pakistan match was spoiled by rain, as they were unable to bowl a single ball in the second innings due to the severe downpour. India and Nepal’s match was also periodically halted by rain. The bad weather annoyed both the players and the spectators and the teams will be hopeful of having results in the Super 4 of the Asia Cup 2023.
Earlier, Jay Shah gave a thorough description of how the Asia Cup 2023 tournament’s location was chosen. but the extreme weather has plagued Sri Lanka, which has negatively hampered the current event and the Sri Lankan Cricket will be hopeful of conducting full games in the Super 4 stage of the tournament.
“All the full members, media rights holders, and in-stadia rights holders were initially hesitant to commit to hosting the entire tournament in Pakistan. This reluctance stemmed from concerns related to the security and economic situation prevailing in the country.
“In my capacity as ACC President, I was committed to finding a viable and mutually agreeable solution. To this end, I had accepted the hybrid model that was proposed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in collaboration with the ACC management,” Jay Shah said.
The security and economic conditions in Pakistan prevented the members, media, and other stakeholders from agreeing to hold the complete tournament there and the Asian Cricket Council will be hopeful of smooth conduct of the continental event in Sri Lanka.