Pakistan threatened to drop out of next year’s World Cup in India when BCCI Secretary Jay Shah announced that the Indian Cricket team decided not to go to Pakistan for the Asia Cup 2023.
The Asia Cup will be held in Pakistan next year as decided by the executive board of the Asian Cricket Council, and according to Jay Shah, India will play the Asia Cup at a neutral location. Another rumor suggests that the Pakistan Cricket Board is considering abandoning the 50-over ICC World Cup in India as media news on Jay Shah’s decision is being publicized.
According to a top OCB source quoted by PTI, the PCB is now ready to take tough decisions and play hardball because it is also aware that the ICC and ACC events will have to deal with commercial liabilities and losses if Pakistan does not play India in these multi-team games. Since 2008, India has not played Pakistan in any other context than international or regional competitions. In 2012, Pakistan last visited India for a brief six-match bilateral white ball series. Pakistan was last visited by India in 2006.
The Asia Cup, which will be played in a 50-over format in advance of the 2023 World Cup, and the Champions Trophy are two significant ICC tournaments that Pakistan is slated to host in the following three years, according to the FTP that was previously made public. It is the first time that the nation has received hosting privileges for two significant ICC events. However, it is highly speculative that PCB and other officials’ reactions to BCCI’s choice of a neutral venue will not be met with a warm welcome. The bilateral series between India and Pakistan has been postponed numerous times as a result of political issues between the two nations.
The PCB sources claimed that Raja will write a strongly written letter to the ACC over the situation and would demand that the ACC board call an emergency meeting in Melbourne the following month to review Shah’s statement. Additionally, the insider said that the PCB had made the decision to consider several possibilities and would not consent to any interference with its hosting rights. One option under consideration will be to withdraw from the ACC, as the PCB believes the organization was established to promote and develop cricket in the area and forge unity among the member countries, he said. But if the ACC president is going to make statements like these, there is no use for Pakistan to remain in the organization.
The most recent match between Pakistan and India took place at this year’s Asia Cup, which was held in the United Arab Emirates. The teams are slated to play their opening T20 World Cup match in Melbourne on October 23. Matches between the two, who have engaged in four wars since earning independence from British rule in 1947, not only generate a great deal of excitement but also ease tense situations on the battlefield.
