Asia Cup 2023: After the Asian Cricket Council on Saturday held a discussion on the venue of the Asia Cup 2023 ODI tournament, the Pakistan Cricket Board has threatened to pull out from the ODI World Cup in India, reports informed. The Indian Board's secretary Jay Shah had earlier said that India will not be travelling to Pakistan for the Asia Cup 2023 and the tournament will be played at a neutral venue. A meeting of the ACC was held in Bahrain to decide upon the Asia Cup and reports suggested that the Asian Board will decide on a neutral venue but the decision was withheld.
Now, as per the news agency ANI, a source has opened up on the issue. "PCB isn't happy with this thinking that Asia cup could be relocated to some neutral venue, name of UAE is on top of the list which might get the hosting but if it happens then Pakistan will not travel to India for ICC World Cup 2023," a source said as quoted by ANI.
After the meeting on Friday, reports suggested that a new venue can be decided in the second round of Executive Board meeting of ACC members in the month of March. Notably, UAE is emerging as a top alternative to host the Asian tournament. The nation had earlier hosted the Asia Cup 2022 as well. Meanwhile, Qatar has also shown interest in organising the tournament amidst the political tensions.
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After the meeting, a BCCI source told the news agency PTI, "The ACC affiliates met today and there were a lot of constructive discussions. But the shift of venue has been postponed till March. But be rest assured that with India not going to Pakistan, the tournament will have to be shifted. A tournament without Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Shubman Gill will have the sponsors back out," a senior BCCI official privy to the development told PTI.
