There was a long-standing dispute over the venue of the Asia Cup 2023 because Pakistan was scheduled to be hosted in this tournament, but the Indian team refused to go there. After this, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh refused to go to Pakistan’s soil. After this, the news came that the hosting of this tournament was being snatched from Pakistan. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Cricket Board has now registered its displeasure over this matter.
Now ACC has proposed Sri Lanka as the hosting nation of Asia Cup 2023. Pakistan Cricket Board has opposed Sri Lanka hosting this year’s Asia Cup and may seriously consider pulling out of the continental tournament if the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) does not accept its proposal.
PCB chief Najam Sethi met officials of the Asian Cricket Council in Dubai on Tuesday and opposed the Asia Cup being held in Sri Lanka instead of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
After the refusal of the Indian team to travel to Pakistan, PCB Chief stated that other Indian teams travel to Pakistan, but why does the cricket team have a problem with this?
“The Indian team of volleyball and kabaddi teams has visited Pakistan. So, what’s the problem with the Indian cricket team coming to Pakistan? My suspicion is that India is afraid of losing to Pakistan in India, and India is afraid of losing to Pakistan in Pakistan,” Pakistan Cricket Board chief Najam Sethi told the Indian Express.
The upcoming ICC Men’s ODI world cup 2023 will be played in India. And as per the sources, the Indian team will clash with the Pakistan cricket team at Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium in Gujarat. Talking about this, Najam Sethi explained that this is political propaganda, and if this happened in the schedule released by ICC, then our cricket team would not travel to India. If they had said Chennai or Kolkata, we might think of travelling to India.
Najam Sethi stated, “When I heard this statement, I smiled and said to myself, this is one way to make sure we don’t come to India. If you had said Chennai or Kolkata, it might have made sense. While refraining from delving into the politics behind it, he emphasized that Ahmedabad, as a city, could pose security challenges for the Pakistani team.”
Najam Sethi added that Ahmedabad is the political venue, and the Pakistani cricket team will not play there because you know who rules Ahmedabad.
“The less said about that, the better. It certainly gave the impression that this red herring was thrown in our way to tell us. We are going to play you in Ahmedabad and you watch out. You know, who rules Ahmedabad!” Sethi added in the last.
