ACC meet on February 4 in Bahrain to discuss Asia Cup venue and India’s participation, PCB Confirms
The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has accepted Pakistan Cricket Board’s request to hold an executive board meeting on February 4 in Bahrain to discuss this year’s Asia Cup and India’s participation in the tournament in neighbouring country.
On Monday, PCB chairman Najam Sethi told media in Lahore that during his recent visit to Dubai, he succeeded in convincing the ACC members to hold the board meeting.
”It is a major development that the ACC the board will meet on 4th February in Bahrain and matters relating to the Asia Cup will be discussed,”
he said.
”There will also be an ICC meeting in March and I don’t want to go public with what negotiations I had with ACC members in Dubai or what I plan to do, argue or discuss at the coming meetings. But yes definitely India and Pakistan cricket relations are important.” The PCB was upset last year when the ACC president Jay Shah said that the Indian team would not travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup and the event would be relocated elsewhere, like it had happened in 2018.
ACC meet in Bahrain: The Indo-Pak Clash on Asia Cup
The BCCI’s refusal was initially escalated by former PCB chairman Ramiz Raja who threatened to boycott the World Cup. The PCB, led at that time by Ramiz Raja, had shot back at the BCCI by threatening that if India didn’t come to Pakistan then it would also not sent its team for the ODI World Cup to be held in India later this year. Ramiz later also threatened that Pakistan could also consider withdrawing from the Asia Cup.
A similar stand seems to have also been taken by Najam Sethi, but there seems little support from other ACC members to the PCB position. Moreover, Sethi agreed that cricket matters between India and Pakistan need some clarity so that ACC and the ICC events are not affected. ”Hosting the Asia Cup this year is very important and India sending its team is a big issue because it will obviously have repercussions on the Champions Trophy being held in Pakistan in 2025.”
PCB Chief’s Barbed Tweet gets ridiculed by ACC
The BCCI and the PCB sparred recently after Jay Shah, the BCCI secretary and ACC president, announced the schedule of the council. It was responded with sarcasm by Sethi who said in a social media post.
Take a look at Sethi’s caustic Tweet:
The PCB chairman’s comments were rejected by ACC which declared that Shah’s post was not unilateral.
It has come to our knowledge that PCB Chairman Mr Najam Sethi has made a comment on the ACC President unilaterally taking the decision on finalising the calendar and announcing the same. The ACC wants to clarify that it has followed well established and due process. The calendar was approved by its Development Committee and Finance & Marketing Committee in a meeting held on December 13th, 2022.
The calendar was then communicated to all the participating members individually, including Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), via an email dated December 22nd, 2022. While responses were received from certain Member Boards, no comments or suggested modifications were received from PCB. In view of the above, Mr Sethi’s comments on a social media platform are baseless and are vehemently denied by the ACC.
The ACC said backing Shah’s position.
Moreover, with the ACC meet in Bahrain happening in such a backdrop, it could be a stormy affair. A BCCI official, who was in Mumbai for the unveiling of Women’s Premier League teams, confirmed a final decision on the Asia Cup will be taken in Bahrain on February 4.
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