A final decision on whether Pakistan will host the 2023 Asia Cup is now expected in March, after an Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting in Bahrain failed to reach a breakthrough. They will meet again in a month’s time, around the next set of ICC meetings.
The PCB chief Najam Sethi subsequently called for a meeting of the ACC which took place on Saturday in Bahrain. At the meeting all ACC members are believed to have been asked to seek their own government’s positions on whether their teams can travel to Pakistan.
After years of isolation following the 2009 attack on Sri Lanka’s team bus in Lahore, Pakistan has returned to hosting international cricket regularly over the last three years, with nearly all full members (other than India) visiting the country for red- and white-ball cricket.
Pakistan-India ties have deteriorated over the years as a result of stormy political relations between the two countries. India and Pakistan have not played each other in a bilateral series since 2012-13, when Pakistan toured India for a limited-overs series. Their encounters have been limited to ICC and ACC events, and while the Indian men’s team has not played any match in Pakistan since 2008, Pakistan last travelled to India for the 2016 T20 World Cup.
The PCB is intent in its stance of hosting the 2023 Asia Cup with Sethi saying in January, “whatever the stance is, it will be according to the interests of Pakistan.”
The ACC executive board also approved the inclusion of teams from Japan and Indonesia in the ACC pathway tournaments and ratified ACC’s calendar of activities for the financial years 2023 and 2024.