Karachi: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has set June 2020 as deadline for the Indian Cricket Board to confirm its participation in Asia Cup, scheduled in September next year.
“We need to see if India agrees to come to Pakistan for the Asia Cup. There is still some time till next year’s September but by June, we have to know where we are going with this and if it can’t be hosted here because of a lack of involvement of India,” PCB CEO Wasim Khan said in an interview.
However the final decision to shift the tournament will be Asian Cricket Council’s prerogative. “But that is a decision for the Asian Cricket Council and ICC to make. We are ready to have India in the Asia Cup,” Khan said.
Khan however acknowledged the practical problems in having any bilateral cricketing ties with India in the prevailing strenuous relationship between the two neighbours.
“Board to board level, we share a good relation with India but they have a lot of government interference and we can’t keep on running after them to play a bilateral series. If they want to play they will have to tell us and give us a firm commitment. We have no issues playing at a neutral venue,” Khan said. On the other hand, Indian coaches from Bangladesh’s women’s cricket staff will not travel to Pakistan for the international series next month amid political tensions between the neighbouring nuclear rivals, the country’s Cricket Board said Sunday.
Tensions are heightened between India and Pakistan after New Delhi revoked the autonomy of restive Kashmir in early August, which was the country’s only Muslim-majority state.
The women’s team are due to play Pakistan from October 26 to November 4 in three Twenty20 internationals and two one-day internationals at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. The tour is still subject to security checks by Bangladesh’s government before it can take place.
The governing body’s chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury told AFP that if it goes ahead, head coach Anju Jain, assistant coach Devika Palshikar, and trainer Kavita Pandey will not accompany the side in Pakistan. But they will travel with the Bangladesh team when they play the ACC Emerging Women’s Asia Cup in Sri Lanka from October 20 to 28.
“We will have another team travelling to Sri Lanka almost at the same period. We’ve decided to send our Indian coaching staff to Sri Lanka instead of Pakistan to avoid any travel complications,” Nizamuddin said. (PTI)
