KARACHI: In a bid to host some matches of the Asia Cup in Pakistan, the PCB is now trying to convince the Asian Cricket Council to allocate just four first round games in Pakistan or else they would have no option but to pull-out of continental body.
PCB chairman Najam Sethi’s ‘Hybrid Model’ of Pakistan playing its home games apart from India encounter, in their own country, has been rejected by other member nations. PCB, in turn, has rejected the idea of hosting Asia Cup games in Sri Lanka.
“Yes, Najam Sethi as part of the plan B of the hybrid model proposed by us for the Asia Cup has informed the ACC this week in Dubai that PCB would be satisfied hosting four games at home,” a reliable source close to the cricket board said, according to a report by PTI newswire.
According to the proposal, all the teams except India will play one match in Pakistan in the first phase. In the second phase, all the teams
including India will complete their remaining matches in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), media reports said.
However, it seems that the model was reportedly rejected by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The members of the ACC is
expected to present the new plan to Indian cricket board secretary Jay Shah before making the final decision.
The BCCI has received support from the cricket boards of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to move this year’s Asia Cup out of Pakistan,
following which a formal announcement of the Emerald Isles as host of the tournament is expected by month-end.
The only question that remains now is what stance the Pakistan Cricket Board takes on participating in the Asia Cup, as too the ICC World
Cup, which India is hosting immediately afterwards.
With the PCB unlikely to get any worthwhile support from the International Cricket Council on the issue, the cash-strapped Pakistan board’s
only practical recourse looks to be a demand for financial compensation from the ACC for breach of contract on the part of BCCI or some
such.
With world cricket’s financial powerhouse India calling the shots and the Asia Cup set to be pulled from Pakistan and shifted to Sri Lanka, the
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is caught between a rock and a hard place.
With Pakistan facing a financial crisis and its cricket board cash strapped, from this perch it certainly looks as if the wiggle room available to
PCB chairman Najam Sethi, who arrived in Dubai on Tuesday to conduct talks with officials of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), is extremely
limited.
It will be interesting to see if the PCB, after being muscled out of its rights to host the Asia Cup, competes in the tournament, now reportedly
scheduled to be held at two venues in Sri Lanka from September 2-17. Also, whether Pakistan decides against coming to India for the World
Cup remains to be seen.
Talking to the media on the occasion of the Pakistan’s National Assembly Standing Committee on Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) meeting
earler, Sethi had told local reporters that the chances of the Pakistan team “traveling to India for the One Day International (ODI) World Cup
are low”.
“In case of India’s refusal to travel to Pakistan to compete in the Asia Cup, chances are that the Pakistan government will not allow the Men in
Green to cross the borders for their World Cup participation,” Sethi had said.
“There should be a middle way to solve problems that surely threaten the smooth hosting of ICC and ACC events. In case of India’s refusal to
travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup, the government will not allow us to travel to India to figure in the World Cup matches,” he had added.
Is Sethi-speak meant for local media consumption or will Pakistan actually “bite the bullet” on the negative financial repercussions that will
flow from it.
