India and Pakistan have shared a hostile relationship over the last decade and due to the various political turmoils, both these countries have stopped playing bilateral matches together. They only meet during ICC tournaments and the action is restricted to these matches only. However, since Pakistan resumed hosting international cricket, they have been keen on hosting a major tournament.
In that bid, they won the right to host the Asia Cup this year, which will take place shortly before the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, hosted by India. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed that they will not be touring Pakistan owing to difficult political circumstances, to which the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has given a harsh response as well.
“We have complex issues on hand but for me when I go to the ACC and ICC meetings I have kept all options open for us and we have to take a clear position now,” he said at a press conference on Monday.
He said while there had been no change in India’s stance on not sending its team to Pakistan for the Asia Cup, the PCB is also firm that it will have to think about not playing the World Cup in India, if they don’t come to Pakistan for the continental event.
“I have kept my options open because when all teams are coming to Pakistan and have no issues with security. Then why is India worried about the security. In the same way we can also have security concerns over sending our team to India for the World Cup and I will be bringing this to the table at the coming meetings,” he said.
The major concern for the PCB is that they also have the rights to host the ICC Champions Trophy in 2025 and there is a good possibility that BCCI will boycott that tournament as well. The similar concern was raised in the ICC AGM and Sethi mentioned that if the Indian government does not allow Indian team to travel to Pakistan, they will respond the same way. If you are a cricket lover and also interested in cricket betting visit Nextbet.
