Pakistan To Host Emerging Cup Next Year: Najam Sethi
Oct 30, 2017 at 1:25 PM
Pakistan will host the U-23 Emerging Cup tournament next year, said Najam Sethi, Chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). His comments have come during the game between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, which was played in Lahore on October 29.
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It was the second time in the year when an international team had travelled to Pakistan to play a game here. Before this, a World XI led side led by Faf du Plessis had traveled to the country to play a three-match T20I series. The team comprised of current and former international players.
Before that, the final of Pakistan Super League (PSL) was also played in the country, which received a great response from the public.
All the steps taken by PCB have now raised the hope of Najam Sethi, and he has announced that Pakistan will be hosting the Emerging Cup tournament. He also said that India would be participating in the competition,
“Having the ACC meeting is by itself a very important step towards the revival of international cricket in Pakistan. We want to hold the matches in more than one city and we will work towards that. We will look forward to hosting India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and a qualifier team next year,” Sethi said.
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Though there are bleak chances of Indian team participating in the tournament as India was to host the U19 Asia Cup to be played next month and it was the Pakistan board that objected playing in the country, and the tournament had to be shifted to Malaysia.
Along with that, the Indian government might also not allow the players to travel to Pakistan; hence, it can also see Pakistan losing out on hosting the tournament.
There are high chances that the tournament might be shifted to one of the other playing nations like it has happened in the case of U-19 Asia Cup.
Sri Lanka U-23 are the current champions of the tournament. They defeated Pakistan U-23 in the final played early this year in Chittagong. India lost an opportunity to qualify for the semi-final after Afghanistan U-23 side defeated them in a must-win game.
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