Pakistan will boycott World Cup if hosting of Asia Cup is taken away, Najam Sethi
India wants the entire Asia Cup to be taken away from Pakistan, it wants to shift all matches to a neutral venue, Chairman PCB told Reuters
Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Najam Sethi said that if Pakistan loses right to host Asia Cup, there is a strong possibility that Pakistan will boycott this year’s World Cup in India.
Deteriorating political relations between Pakistan and India over past decade have affected bilateral cricket and two countries now only play each other in international matches at neutral venues.
India has refused to participate in the Cricket Asia Cup scheduled for September in Pakistan due to security concerns, and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has offered them to play their matches in the United Arab Emirates under a ‘hybrid model’. The name has been given but the BCCI has not yet responded to Pakistan’s proposal.
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Najam Sethi told Reuters in a Zoom interview that India wants the entire tournament to be taken away from Pakistan, it wants to shift all the matches to a neutral venue. He said “BCCI should take a good and reasonable decision so that we don’t have any problem moving forward”.
He said, “India should not look at a situation where we boycott the Asia Cup and the World Cup and then India boycotts the Champions Trophy, it will be a big mess.”
Najam Sethi said if India agrees to a hybrid model for the Asia Cup, Pakistan will expect similar conditions for its team at the World Cup in October and November.
“We also have security concerns for our team in India, so let Pakistan play their matches in Dhaka, Mirpur, or UAE or Sri Lanka,” he said.
“This is the only solution going forward, until India agrees to play bilaterally with Pakistan, in Pakistan and outside Pakistan,” he said.
According to Reuters, BCCI secretary Jay Shah was not immediately available for comment, but neither the Indian cricket board nor the ICC have said they will allow any World Cup matches to be held outside India. Considering
Najam Sethi said that Pakistan, the World Cup champions in 1992, was a top cricketing nation that should not be ignored and they would have to talk to the ICC about the Asia Cup issue.
He said “ICC should intervene in this matter but I think India will not like ICC’s intervention especially during the Asia Cup”.
