ACC to meet in Bahrain in early February; likely to take decision on 2023 Asia Cup

The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) will meet in Bahrain on February 4, to decide the future of the upcoming Asia Cup. In the meeting, two of the cricketing powerhouses, India and Pakistan will finally face off after Jay Shah’s controversial statement, where he declared the Men in Blue will not play the marquee tournament, if the venue of the competition is not changed.

In return, the former PCB chairman, Ramiz Raja, threatened that the Babar Azam-led side will boycott the ODI World Cup in case India refuses to travel to Pakistan for the continental cup. Nothing really changed when Najam Sethi took over as he took multiple digs at BCCI secretary and ACC president, Jay Shah, during his tenure.

Recently, when the 34-year-old announced the schedule of the council, Najam Sethi made a controversial remark, where he mentioned that the governing body didn’t consult the hosts before finalising the dates for the upcoming Asia Cup. He sarcastically even mentioned that Jay Shah should even announce the schedule of the Pakistan Super League which eventually is slated to begin in February.

“Thank you @JayShah for unilaterally presenting @ACCMedia1 structure & calendars 2023-24 especially relating to Asia Cup 2023 for which Pakistan is the event host. While you are at it, you might as well present structure & calendar of our PSL 2023! A swift response will be appreciated (sic),” Sethi Tweeted.

However, ACC rejected the PCB chairman’s comments and replied that the schedule was approved by its Development Committee and Finance & Marketing Committee and it was not Jay Shah’s decision.

“It has come to our knowledge that PCB Chairman Mr Najam Sethi has made a comment on the ACC President unilaterally taking the decision on finalising the calendar and announcing the same. The ACC wants to clarify that it has followed well established and due process. The calendar was approved by its Development Committee and Finance & Marketing Committee in a meeting held on December 13, 2022," ACC said.

The calendar was then communicated to all the participating members individually, including Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), via an email dated December 22, 2022. While responses were received from certain Member Boards, no comments or suggested modifications were received from PCB. In view of the above, Mr Sethi's comments on a social media platform are baseless and are vehemently denied by the ACC,” the ACC said backing Shah's position," they further elaborated.

Thus, when these three sides finally meet in the meeting, it is going to be a stormy affair, to say the least. 

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