Jay Shah in Bahrain to attend ACC meeting on Pakistan’s Asia Cup hosting rights

New Delhi: BCCI secretary Jay Shah, reportedly, is in Bahrain to attend Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting. The meeting was called by the PCB chief Najam Sethi to talk about Pakistan’s hosting rights for the upcoming Men’s Asia Cup. The row sparked when Shah, who is also the ACC’s President, told the media last October that India would not travel to Pakistan for the tournament.

As reported by PTI, a BCCI source said that India’s stand is not likely to change and the team will not travel to the neighbouring country as there is no go-ahead from the government.

Pakistan was to host the Men’s Asia Cup 2023, but a question mark was raised on it as Jay Shah released the schedule for the upcoming ACC tournaments, where the venue for the Men’s Asia Cup was not mentioned. Najam Sethi called it a “unilateral decision”, but ACC cleared that they sent emails to PCB to which they did not reply.

In October 2022, when Shah announced that India would not travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup, the then PCB chairperson Ramiz Raja replied that they also have other options, indicating that Pakistan might not take a part in the ICC Men’s World Cup 2023 in India.

While Pakistan is rekindling the trust and is hosting bilateral series with teams like England and Australia, the recent bomb blasts in Peshawar have again raised security concerns. This might mean that the Asia Cup will be hosted at a neutral venue, which probably could be UAE.