ACC likely to approve PCB's hybrid model for Asia Cup 2023
Jun 11, 2023
New Delhi [India], June 11 : The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)'s proposed hybrid model for the Asia Cup 2023 is likely to be approved by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). Sri Lanka can be considered as the neutral venue where India's matches can be held, according to ESPNcricinfo.
In the proposed model, Pakistan will host all the matches of the tournament except India's matches which will be played in Sri Lanka and the Final will also be held in Sri Lanka if India reaches there.
According to ESPNcricinfo, an official announcement can be expected after the weekend.
Currently, the window set aside for the tournament is between September 1-17. For the Pakistan leg, the games are likely to be played in Lahore.
Since India and Pakistan do not want to travel to each other's countries, therefore, this hybrid model was proposed as a solution.
Earlier, India had refused to travel to Pakistan for the Aisa Cup 2023 and to retain the hosting rights, Pakistan came up with this model.
Pakistan also offered UAE as a second venue citing for Pakistan-India matches in the tournament, but Bangladesh raised concerns over the extreme weather in the middle east in September.
Last year, BCCI secretary Jay Shah had announced that India will not travel to Pakistan to play Asia Cup 2023 which is being hosted by Pakistan.
Najam Sethi, the chairperson of the PCB Management Committee, called for a rational approach to solve the crisis looming over the country's hosting of the Asia Cup. PCB put forward a hybrid model, according to which, India could play its matches at neutral venues like United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sri Lanka, Bangladesh or the United Kingdom (UK) or Bangladesh while other matches took place in Pakistan.