Last Updated on 2 years by Charbel Coorey
Cricket News: Asia Cup 2023 venue: India refuse to travel to Pakistan | BCCI confirms India will not travel to Pakistan
Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah has clarified that India will not travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup in 2023.
“It will be held at a neutral venue. I am saying this as ACC (Asian Cricket Council) president. We can’t go there (Pakistan), they can’t come here. In the past too, Asia Cup has been played at a neutral venue,” Shah was quoted in a report by the Times of India (TOI).
The BCCI secretary further added, “Neutral venue for the Asia Cup is not unprecedented. We have decided that we will not travel to Pakistan.”
Asia Cup 2023 venue drama: Pakistan-India have not played a bilateral series since 2012
Meanwhile, TOI reports that sources known to Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja have said that Pakistan is considering withdrawing from the ODI World Cup in 2023.
“The PCB is prepared to take hard decisions and play hard ball because it is also aware that the ICC and ACC events will have to face commercial liabilities and losses if Pakistan does not play India in these multi-team events,” a PCB source hit back at the BCCI, according to the aforementioned report.
Shah’s remark about both India and Pakistan not playing in each other’s lands raises further questions about the latter staging the Champions Trophy in 2025.
The neutral venue that the BCCI secretary referred to might as well be the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has hosted the last two editions of the Asia Cup in 2018 and 2022.
India has not toured Pakistan since 2008 and the two sides have not engaged in a bilateral series since late 2012. The countries will be facing off in their opening fixture of the T20 World Cup at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Sunday.
