India not going to Pakistan, BCCI says Asia Cup 2023 will have to be shifted: Report

Asian Cricket Council will decide on an alternate venue for Asia Cup ODI tournament in March after BCCI secretary Jay Shah and PCB chairman Najam Sethi had ir first formal meeting in Bahrain on Saturday.

Asia Cup was initially allotted to Pakistan and was scheduled in September this year but Shah, who is also ACC chairman, anunced last October that India will t travel to Pakistan.

It is understood that United Arab Emirates with three venues -- Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah -- are favourites to host tournament but decision has been withheld for time being.

Asia Cup 2023 will have to be shifted from Pakistan

All heads of ACC member nations attended emergent meeting which was called at behest of PCB chairman Sethi after ACC under chairmanship of Shah released continental body's itinerary where Pakistan wasn't named host.

" ACC affiliates met today and re were a lot of constructive discussions. But shift of venue has been postponed till March. But be rest assured that with India t going to Pakistan, tournament will have to be shifted. A tournament without Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Shubman Gill will have sponsors back out," a senior BCCI official privy to development told PTI.

One ACC insider said Sethi has just taken over PCB and if he would have ceded ground on hosting rights in first meeting itself, n it would have led to a bad impression at home.

Pakistan is currently going through an ecomic crisis and inflation has hit country very hard with country's currency plummeting to Pakistani Rupee 277 against 1 US Dollar. Organizing a high-profile tournament like Asia Cup, even if ACC pays a grant could burn a hole in PCB coffers.

So strategically, if tournament is held in UAE, re is every possibility that all member nations will also get to earn apart from broadcast revenues.

In ar decision, ACC has decided to increase annual budget allocated for Afghanistan Cricket Association to 15 percent from six.

ACC has assured that it will help Afghanistan board in all possible ways so that women's cricket can be revived in country. Women are banned from playing sports under Taliban rule.

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