BCCI-PCB Battle Continues, Asia Cup 2023 On Verge of Cancellation

image-lh4u0u4zVirat Kohli and Babar Azam shaking hands (Twitter)

There has been a lot of intense debates between BCCI and PCB in recent times over the venue for Asia Cup with BCCI making it clear that it will not travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup. Since then,  there have been numerous suggestions and controversial statements on this issue from both the sides and there have been serious doubts over the continental tournament's future.

The six-team competition is expected to be in 50-over format this year as a preparation to the ODI World Cup in India later in the year. The PCB on their part have suggested a hybrid model where rest of the teams apart from India will play their games in Pakistan while India matches will be played at a neutral venue.

However, BCCI is trying its best to make sure that the complete Asia Cup happens in a neutral venue.

Jay Shah, the current Secretary of BCCI and President of Asian Cricket Council (ACC) recently said that they are awaiting feedback from other teams to finalise the venue for Asia Cup 2023 and are also awaiting clarity on India-Pakistan match.

“We are awaiting feedback from other nations to finalise the venue for the 2023 Asia Cup and clarity on the India-Pakistan match."

However, PCB have vehemently oppose any such suggestions and according to the reports, they would be okay with the cancellation of the tournament rather than playing it on a neutral venue.

PCB also wants a reciprocal mechanism to deal with the situation and Najam Sethi - The PCB chairman has said that if the hybrid model is followed for the Asia Cup, it should also be followed for World Cup to be held in India later this year.

“We feel this hybrid experiment can also be applied when it is time for the World Cup. Our stance is that everything should be on a reciprocal basis. In the old times, yes, there were security issues in Pakistan. But now there are no issues, so what is India’s excuse for not playing in Pakistan?"

According to the reports,  the Lankan Board and Bangladeshi board have also tried to convince PCB to shift the tournament to a neutral venue but PCB is against any such suggestions.

Also, if the Asia Cup does get cancelled, we might even see BCCI arranging a five-team tournament excluding Pakistan. So, there are number of possibilities on the table now and this Asia Cup saga between BCCI-PCB is surely getting interesting as we come closer to the tournament.