Following the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) refusal to visit Pakistan for the upcoming Asia Cup, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was considering not competing in the ICC Men’s World Cup 2023, which will be held in India.
The PCB has reportedly called an emergency meeting in response to BCCI Secretary Jay Shah’s remarks that India won’t travel to Pakistan for the 2019 Asia Cup.
After India’s decision, the board was also thinking about leaving the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). According to the reports, the board would declare Jay Shah, the ACC President and BCCI Secretary, to have made a hasty and unnecessary judgment about the visit.
The board made a point of saying that Jay Shah couldn’t make a decision all by himself during the meeting. According to sources, PCB officials believed that the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) was established to protect the member states cricketing interests. It serves no use for the PCB to remain a part of it if it is unable to do that.
The participants of the meeting noted that ACC earns a lot of revenue from Pakistan-India matches. “The money is used for the development of cricket around Asia. However, India seemed content to lose this revenue,” sources said, quoting officials.
According to further sources, the PCB was considering boycotting the ICC Men’s World Cup 2023, which is scheduled to take place in India.
India won’t be going to Pakistan for the Asia Cup next year, according to Jay Shah, president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), who is also the BCCI secretary.
The news broke on the day of the BCCI’s annual general meeting in Mumbai, where Jay Shah, the head of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), proposed that the Asia Cup be held in a neutral site.
Due to tense relations between the two governments, India hasn’t toured Pakistan since 2008 and hasn’t played bilateral cricket against them since 2012. Only ICC and ACC events have hosted their matches.
Pakistan will host the 50-over Asia Cup 2023 before the ICC Cricket World Cup in India, scheduled in October and November. Meanwhile, Pakistan will face India in their T20 World Cup 2022 tournament opener at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on October 23.
