BCCI Secretary Jay Shah has said that the Asia Cup 2023 would have to played at a neutral venue instead of Pakistan.
LAHORE: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-Oct 18th, 2022) BCCI Secretary Jay Shah on Tuesday said that Indian would not travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup in 2023, suggesting that the next year’s Asia Cup would have to be played at some neutral venue.
He made this statement during the BCCI’s annual general meeting in Mumbai.
The statement raised serious questions as to where the tournament might now be played.
Talking to the reporters, Jay Shah said, “The Asia Cup 2023 will be held at a neutral venue, because we can’t go there,”.
He said, “I am making this statement as president of ACC,”. He went on to say that the past is witness that the Asia cup was played at a neutral venue. The new set of BCCI office bearers - the president Roger Binny, treasurer Ashish Shelar and Rajiv Shukla, who was re-elected as board vice-president - were present when Shah spoke to the media.
The ACC has not yet met to discuss the matter, let alone for a decision to be officially taken. That has raised questions within the PCB as to which capacity Shah was speaking in on the matter and why he chose to do so at a BCCI AGM. A PCB spokesperson said the board would not be commenting on the matter at this stage but a robust response is not out of the question: there is, for instance, already talk within the board of leaving the ACC.
Shah's comments could also hold some implication for ICC events, two of which are to be held in India and Pakistan over the next couple of years. India hosts the 2023 ODI World Cup soon after the Asia Cup and then Pakistan host the 2025 Champions Trophy. If India cannot play in Pakistan and likewise, Pakistan cannot in India, it remains to be seen what impact it has on those tournaments. At the 2016 T20 World Cup, in India, Pakistan required their government's approval to travel to India and got it only at the last minute. The ICC is unlikely to comment on the issue at the moment.
India's last trip to Pakistan was for the 2008 Asia Cup, while Pakistan's last visit to India was for that 2016 ICC event. Due to strained political relations between the two countries, they have not played any bilateral cricket since Pakistan toured India for a white-ball only series in 2012-13.
India and Pakistan last played each other at the 2022 Asia Cup in UAE in August-September this year, and are due to face off in the T20 World Cup in Melbourne on October 23. The atmosphere leading into that game will no doubt be a little more tense now. Within the PCB at least there is unhappiness with the comments, not least that Shah said this in the aftermath of a BCCI AGM, which he presided over as board secretary, having effectively bypassed the ACC as a body.
Such a decision, an official said, cannot be made without it being discussed at ACC board level. Indeed, after a meeting in March this year - under Shah's ACC presidency - it was confirmed that Pakistan would be hosting the Asia Cup. But there is enough unhappiness within the board to contemplate pulling out of the ACC altogether as a member, a body that was set up in the mid-80s - ironically - to ensure productive relations between Asian members.
It hasn't quite worked out that way. Both India and Pakistan have in the past pulled out of previous editions of the Asia Cup and the tournament itself has been cancelled on occasion because of poor ties between India and Pakistan. The last two editions were played in the UAE, which has hosted the tournament four times altogether.
