Asia Cup 2023: Pakistan Threatens To Boycott ODI World Cup 2023 If Asia Cup Is Taken Away. When Pakistan was given the hosting rights for the 2023 Asia Cup (which starts on 16th June) about a year ago, the cricket world was concerned for all the right reasons. The diplomatic tension between India and Pakistan was what led many to believe that it would cause a great deal of political drama, and it is turning out to be true.
India has made their stance very clear for a long back – they do not intend to travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup because of the political tensions between the two nations. BCCI secretary Jay Shah, who is also the president of the ACC (Asian Cricket Council), officially stated the same a few days ago.
ACC has started considering shifting the 2023 Asia Cup to some other country, like UAE or Sri Lanka and the Pakistan Cricket Board is understandably annoyed by this.
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Najam Sethi, who was recently appointed as the new chairman of the PCB has made it very clear that if Pakistan is stripped of its role as the host for either the 2023 Asia Cup or the 2025 Champions Trophy, they will not send their team to India for the 2023 ICC ODI World Cup. His predecessor, Ramiz Raza, shared the same stand on this particular issue.
ACC held a meeting in Bahrain recently to discuss this issue with its member nations, and Najam Sethi attended it after a detailed talk with Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif. He reiterated his stand in the meeting and assured that Pakistan will be providing complete security to the Indian national cricket team upon their arrival in Pakistan for the Asia Cup and thus there is no reason for them to skip the tournament.
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Najam Sethi questioned why the BCCI did not raise their objection when Pakistan was chosen to host Asia Cup 2023 and Champions Trophy 2025 to begin with. He also asked BCCI to ask the Indian government about their final stand on the issue so that PCB could discuss their participation in the 2023 ODI World Cup with ICC as well.
ACC will meet again in March to discuss this issue further. For now, they are expected to find an alternative venue for the event in that meeting. However, we think that a lot of drama is yet to ensue in regarding this issue. Stay tuned to Sportsganga for the latest updates.
