ACC may not consider hosting Asia Cup 2023 in two countries: Report

“Playing its Asia Cup games in Pakistan is concerned, the budget for the tournament is passed by the Asian Cricket Council. If ACC says that it’s not a commercially viable proposition to hold Asia Cup in two countries, how can Pakistan play its games at home? ACC, for all you know, might not pass the budget,” a board source said.

As per reports by the same news agency earlier, a group of officials from PCB and BCCI has been working together to figure out the logistic of hosting Asia Cup 2023 across two countries, with India playing their matches at a neutral venue, including their matches against Pakistan.

The rest of the games will be played in Pakistan, which is granted the hosting rights for the event but was stripped of it later by ACC chairman Jay Shah, who announced that the event will be played at a neutral venue. PCB, under their new chief Najam Sethi, is making efforts behind the scenes to keep the hosting rights of the event.

The PTI report further mentioned that BCCI top brass is of the understanding that PCB is putting pressure to host the entire Asia Cup in Pakistan but the Indian board remains firm on its stance of not sending the national team to Pakistan.

“We understand that this is a kind of pressure tactic applied by PCB because of the Asia Cup issue. But let me tell you, ultimately, Asia Cup will also be played in UAE or Qatar and probably Pakistan will also have to play its matches in one of these countries,” a BCCI source said.

The reports come on a day when the International Cricket Council has refused reportedly the claims of Pakistan wanting to play their World Cup 2023, hosted by India, matches in Bangladesh, saying it’s an absurd suggestion as they won’t change the venue of the semis or finals if Pakistan reach those stages.

With inputs from PTI