India will not travel to Pakistan for Asia Cup 2023: In an important development, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has remained firm and unmoved in its stance of not travelling to Pakistan for the Asia Cup 2023. The update came after the BCCI secretary Jay Shah boarded a plane to Bahrain to discuss the fate of Asia Cup 2023 hosting rights at the behest of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, Najam Sethi.
The sources who have their ear close to the development said that there is negligible chance of India travelling to Pakistan to play Asia Cup 2023 in September, which ultimately meant that the continental tournament will have to be shifted to another venue.
It was learnt that there is a high chance that the Asia Cup 2023, which will be played in the 50-over format, will be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) or Sri Lanka.
“Jay is in Bahrain for the ACC meeting. The BCCI’s stand will not change. We will not be travelling to Pakistan as we haven’t got any go-ahead from the government,” a BCCI source stated.
Notably, the recent bomb attacks in Peshawar have yet again put the cricketing world under stress as security threats continue to surge in the country. The big teams in world cricket will have to think it twice before travelling to Pakistan and playing a tournament there.
Meanwhile, Jay Shah, in December 2021, announced the itinerary of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), however, the venues were missing from it.
Following this, Najam Sethi accused Jay Shah of taking unilateral decisions and not seeking Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB’s) recommendation. However, the ACC has denied all the allegations made by the PCB chief, as it said multiple emails seeking PCB’s recommendation went unanswered.
Interestingly, the previous PCB chief, Ramiz Raja, had also accused Jay Shah, ACC chief, of taking independent decisions, after Shah confirmed that the Asia Cup 2023 will be shifted out of Pakistan due to security concerns for the Indian players.
This also led to Ramiz Raja threatening the ACC to renounce its membership and the BCCI of boycotting the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 which will be held in India.
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