PCB official said - Pakistan's matches should be held in Sri Lanka or Bangladesh
Doubt on Pakistan playing World Cup matches in India: PCB official said - Pakistan's matches should be held in Sri Lanka or Bangladesh
Pakistan has threatened to pull out of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 to be held in India later this year. According to the news agency ANI, an official of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said that if India does not come to Pakistan to play in the 2023 Asia Cup, then the Pakistan cricket team will also not participate in the ODI World Cup to be held in India. He further said, Pakistan's matches should be held in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The ODI World Cup is going to be held in October-November this year. ICC has not released its schedule yet.
According to last week's ESPN Cricinfo report, most of the matches of the Asia Cup tournament will be held in Pakistan, but all the matches of the Indian team can be shifted to one of the UAE, Oman or Sri Lanka.
It is for this reason that the official of Pakistan has talked about holding the matches of Pakistan in Bangladesh or Sri Lanka regarding the World Cup.
This time the Asia Cup is to be held in the first week of September. There will be a total of 13 matches including the final in this tournament of 6 teams lasting 13 days. India and Pakistan are in the same group. A team will reach with them after qualifying. Whereas Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are in the second group.
The Indian team will play 2 matches in the preliminary stage of the Asia Cup. On winning a single match, the team will reach the Super-4 stage, where it will have to play 3 matches. If Team India also reaches the final, then it will play a total of 6 matches in the tournament. In the event of India reaching the final, that match will also be shifted to a neutral venue.
Apart from UAE, Oman and Sri Lanka, the name of England is also coming to the fore as a neutral venue for the Asia Cup as a large number of spectators arrive to watch the Indo-Pak match in England. However, there is little hope of England getting the hosting rights, as matches of the Asia Cup and IPL have already been held in UAE and Oman during September. In such a situation, only a country in Asia is expected to host India's matches.
In October last year, BCCI Secretary Jai Shah decided that Team India would not go to Pakistan when the Asia Cup was hosted in Pakistan. According to Jay Shah, India will not travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup due to security reasons and the tournament will be played at a neutral venue.