There is a \u201cvery real possibility\u201d that Pakistan will boycott this year\u2019s World Cup in India if they lose hosting rights to the Asia Cup, the chairman of the country\u2019s cricket board Najam Sethi told Reuters.
\nBilateral cricket has been a casualty of the soured political relations between India and Pakistan over the last decade and the neighbouring countries now play each other only in multi-team events in neutral venues.
\nIndia, citing safety concerns, have ruled out travelling to Pakistan for the Asia Cup in September and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has offered to let them play their matches in the United Arab Emirates in what has been dubbed a \u201chybrid model\u201d.
\nWhile the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has yet to deliver a formal response to the offer, Sethi said India wanted the entire tournament moved out of Pakistan.
\nThat could have serious ramifications for the 50-overs World Cup in India this year as well as the 2025 Champions Trophy in Pakistan, he added.
\n\u201cThey want all the matches in a neutral venue,\u201d he said in a Zoom interview.
\n\u201cBCCI should take a good, rational decision so that we don\u2019t have any problems going forward.
\n\u201cIndia should not be looking at a situation where we end up boycotting the Asia Cup and also the World Cup, and then India ends up boycotting the Champions Trophy.
\n\u201cThat will be a huge mess.\u201d Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have also come out against playing in the UAE, citing the heat and logistics issues, heightening speculation in local media that the Asian Cricket Council may look to move the entire tournament out of Pakistan.
\nSethi said that was \u201cnot acceptable\u201d and reaffirmed that Pakistan may boycott the World Cup if that happened.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s a very real possibility, of course,\u201d he added.
\nShould India agree to the hybrid model for the Asia Cup, Sethi said, Pakistan would expect reciprocal terms for their team at the World Cup in October and November.
\n\u201cWe also have security concerns for our team in India,\u201d he said. \u201cSo let Pakistan play its matches in Dhaka or Mirpur, or UAE or in Sri Lanka.
\n\u201cThis is the solution going forward, until such time that India agrees to play Pakistan, in Pakistan and outside Pakistan, bilaterally.\u201d
\nBCCI Secretary Jay Shah was not immediately available for comment but neither the Indian board nor the International Cricket Council (ICC) have said they are even considering staging any World Cup matches outside India.
\nSethi said Pakistan, World Cup champions in 1992, was a top cricketing nation which should not be ignored and that they would have to talk to the ICC about the Asia Cup problem.
\n\u201cThe ICC should step in but my sense is India would not like the ICC to step in, especially during the Asia Cup,\u201d he said.
\nThe ICC was not immediately available for comment.
\nPakistan was starved of international cricket after a 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore and had to lobby hard to convince top teams to resume touring the country over the last couple of years.
\n\u201cWe worked so hard to bring international cricket back to Pakistan,\u201d Sethi said. \u201cEvery major country has toured Pakistan in the last few years. You name them, they\u2019ve all been there. They all appreciated the security arrangements.
\nThat\u2019s not a problem anymore.\u201c
\nCiting the hype surrounding any meeting between India and Pakistan, Sethi blamed the BCCI\u2019s \u201cstubbornness\u201d for failing to turn it into the greatest rivalry in cricket.
\n\u201cThe India-Pakistan game is the biggest game in town. It\u2019s bigger than Australia v England, it\u2019s bigger than India v Australia. How can we jeopardise that by a stubbornness?\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThe Indian bridge team has been to Pakistan, the Indian kabaddi team has been to Pakistan, the Indian baseball team has been to Pakistan \u2026 \u201cSo what\u2019s going on? Why can\u2019t the Indian cricket team come to Pakistan?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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