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After Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary, Jay Shah's earlier claim that India will not travel to Pakistan for the 2023 Asia Cup, the president of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ramiz Raja has come out with a fiery response during an interview with Urdu News.
During the BCCI's 91st Annual General Meeting in Mumbai, Shah, who is also the president of the Asian Cricket Council, said, "Neutral venue for Asia Cup is not unprecedented and we have decided that we will not travel to Pakistan. It's the govt which decides over the permission of our team visiting Pakistan so we won't comment on that but for the 2023 Asia Cup, it is decided that the tournament will be held at a neutral venue."
With the statement made more than a month back, before the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia, Raja has responded saying, “If Pakistan doesn't take part in the World Cup scheduled in India next year, who will watch it? We have a clear stand: If the Indian team comes here then we will go for the World Cup.
If they don't come then they can play the World Cup without us. We will adopt an aggressive approach. Our team is showing performance. I've always said we need to improve the economy of Pakistan cricket, and that can only happen when we perform well. In the 2021 T20 World Cup, we beat India. We beat India in the T20 Asia Cup. In one year, the Pakistan cricket team defeated a billion-dollar economy team twice,” he said.
According to the ICC's FTP, Pakistan are also scheduled to host the Champions Trophy in 2025 in addition to the Asia Cup in 2023. Since the return of international cricket in their country, the Champions Trophy will be the first ICC event to be scheduled in Pakistan.
The side reached the final of the T20 World Cup, beating New Zealand in the semifinal. However, they lost to England in a closely-fought match that went to the wire.
