The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) on Saturday deferred the decision on the Asia Cup 2023 venue to next month, during its executive board meeting in Bahrain, saying that the members will continue their discussions over the hosting of the tournament.
The Asia Cup is scheduled to be held in Pakistan in September. However, in October of 2022 Jay Shah announced, “the Asia Cup 2023 will be held at a neutral venue" following the BCCI’s AGM in Mumbai.
Ramiz Raja, who was the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief at that time, objected to it and said Pakistan would not travel to India for the ODI World Cup that's scheduled for October. With Najam Sethi returning to the helm of PCB in December, he took up the issue and sought a meeting of the ACC Board to discuss the matter.
During the Saturday meeting in Bahrain, which was attended by both BCCI secretary Shah and PCB chairman Sethi along with other ACC board members, no concrete decision could be taken on the venue of the Asia Cup.
"The ACC had a constructive dialogue on the upcoming Asia Cup 2023. The Board agreed to continue discussions on operations, timelines and any other specifics with a view to ensure the success of the tournament. An update on the matter would be taken at the next ACC Executive Board Meeting to be held in March 2023," the ACC said in a statement.
Notably, Pakistan and India do not play bilateral cricket and only meet in global tournaments or multi-team events since 2013 due to strained political tensions between the two countries. The BCCI has not got any Indian team to travel to Pakistan since 2008 following the Mumbai terror attack, while Pakistan played the 2016 T20 World Cup hosted by India. The two teams last played each other at the 2022 Men's T20 World Cup in Australia.
Meanwhile, the executive board also approved of the inclusion of teams from Japan (Japan Cricket Association) and Indonesia (Persutan Cricket Indonesia) in the ACC pathway tournaments to participate in the events as invitees.
It also ratified ACC's calendar of activities for the financial years 2023 and 2024.
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