'Asia Cup to be postponed if India reach WTC final,' says PCB, updates on WC visa issue

With India inching closer to the World Test Championship finale against New Zealand, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ehsan Mani has said that the Asia Cup will have to be rescheduled, in case Kohli & Co qualify for the mega ICC event slated to be held in June this year. The PCB chairman remarked that since the dates of the Asia Cup and the WTC final are clashing, the annual cup featuring countries from the subcontinent will have to make way for the WTC final and be pushed to 2023 if India qualify. With India winning the third Test against England in the ongoing series, Kohli and his men need to either win or draw the final Test of the series to qualify for the finale. 

Addressing a press conference in Karachi, Mani said, "Asia Cup was set to go last year but it got postponed to this year. Right now, it looks like Asia Cup won't be going ahead this year as the WTC finals are set to go ahead in June. Sri Lanka had said that they would try to host the tournament in June. The dates are clashing. We think the tournament would not be going ahead, and we might have to push the tournament to 2023."

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The PCB CEO confidently asserted that India will reach the finals and that is why rescheduling the Asia Cup is inevitable. However, he added that the management is still awaiting a final confirmation before proceeding further. "It looks like India has reached the finals and they will clash against New Zealand. This is why the Asia Cup set to be played in Sri Lanka won't go ahead. We are waiting for confirmation but if it does not go ahead, we are planning for the future," said Khan during a virtual press conference.

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'ICC has set a deadline'

Providing an update on the PCB's demand for a 'written assurance' from BCCI on visas for the ICC T20 World Cup, Mani claimed that the ICC has said that the assurance will come by March this year. The prestigious T20 World Cup is scheduled to be held in India later this year after a rejig in the schedule last year due to the COVID-19 outbreak. He also claimed that the ICC has set a deadline of March 31 for the final decision on the visa issue. 

"The ICC has said that the assurance will come by March. If we do not get the assurance, then the tournament needs to be moved. We have a visa problem, Covid-19 situation also needs to be looked at. The ICC has made a contingency plan that if T20 World Cup cannot be played in India, then it will go ahead in the UAE,"  Mani said. 

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