ASIA CUP 2023 – PCB PROPOSES A NEW MODEL, WILL PAK PLAY ASIA CUP 2023
ASIA CUP 2023:
The chairman of the PCB management committee, Najam Sethi is currently in DUBAI, he held a meeting with the Vice President of the ACC and proposed a new model for Asia Cup 2023 so that Asia Cup takes place and is not canceled because of the Indo-Pak political tensions.
The Asia Cup is a tournament that is organized by the Asian Cricket Council and the 16TH edition of the Asia Cup is scheduled to be held in Pakistan later this year in SEPTEMBER, but there are many things that are still not settled completely between boards before the confirmation of the tournament – INDIA has declined to tour Pakistan for the Asia Cup 2023 in any case and PAKISTAN is on their firm stance of hosting Asia Cup 2023 in their country.
In this case, Pakistan Cricket Board also proposed a Hybrid Model to the Indian Cricket Board, as per the proposal all teams would play their matches in Pakistan but the matches of the Indian team will be played at a neutral venue as they don’t want to travel to Pakistan, but the Indian Board rejected the proposal as they want the entire Asia Cup 2023 to be moved out of Pakistan, they want the tournament to be held somewhere in UAE, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh.
As per the reports by Cricket Pakistan, Najam Sethi in his meeting with the Vice President of the Asian Cricket Council has further explained the Hybrid Model even with some alternations in the previous model, so that Asia Cup 2023 can happen.
According to the proposed model by the PCB chairman, a total of four matches will take place in Pakistan, all teams will travel to Pakistan once for their matches except Indian Team for the four matches and after that, the remaining seven matches of the Asia Cup 2023 will be played at a neutral venue in UAE.
Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Nepal will come to Pakistan to play four matches in Pakistan and then all four teams will travel to UAE to play the remaining seven games of the Asia Cup 2023, this is the best possible option for all teams to agree for the Asia Cup 2023 to take place this year.
The question related to the broadcasters was whether they will be ok with this model as they have to carry their equipment between two countries to which Najam Sethi replied that they will have to travel only once in this model and I don’t think there are many issues in this model for anyone.
It is expected that the final decision related to the Asia Cup 2023 with this proposed model will be made later this month, this is the last possible option that has been given by the PCB and if there is still no positive response from the BCCI on this matter then we can also expect Pakistan to opt out of the Asia Cup 2023 this year. The Pakistan Cricket Board has also started to contact different boards to check their availability for some matches in case they do not participate in the Asia Cup 2023.
However, PCB is expecting a better reply on this model as its better for everyone to give the green signal to this model proposed by the PCB because if Pakistan pulls out of the Asia Cup 2023, there will be no India vs Pakistan matches in the Asia Cup 2023 and that can result in heavy loss for the broadcasters as well as the Asian Cricket Council because as we all know how important is this rivalry in world cricket.
PCB has helped every team whenever they needed any assistance and now it’s time for other boards to speak in favor of the Pakistan Cricket Board on this stance, which also seems acceptable to all teams as well.
