After Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Najam Sethi took a dig at Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Jay Shah for ‘unilaterally presenting’ the ACC calendar for 2023-2024 on January 05 (Thursday), the governing body on January 06 (Friday) released a statement clearing the air on the burning issue. The ACC affirmed that 'all the participating members' were informed via email regarding the calendar and deemed Sethi's comments as baseless.
"The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) on Thursday announced the ACC Calendar 2023-24 and the pathway structure," the release said.
"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 of by its Development Committee and Finance & Marketing Committee in a meeting held on December 13th, 2022.
"The calendar was then communicated to all the participating members individually, including Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), via an email dated December 22nd, 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 governing body added in the release.
Shah, who is also the Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), released the men's and women's fixtures on Twitter, with a total of 145 matches set to be held in the 2023-24 period. The Asia Cup 2023's schedule and format was also revealed as arch-rivals India and Pakistan are placed in the same group (Group 1) for the 2023 Asia Cup, which will be played in a 50-over format in the month of September.
Soon after the schedule was announced, Sethi replied to Shah's tweet mentioning the schedule and said, "Thank you Jay Shah for unilaterally presenting ACC 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."
Sports Tak spoke to Sethi in an exclusive interview on January 05 (Thursday) soon after Shah released the ACC calendar for 2023-2024. When quizzed about the mail sent by the ACC to all parties, Sethi denied receiving any communication from the governing body.
"I don't think so. It has come as a bolt from the blue for us. PCB predecessor Ramiz Raja also expressed his displeasure on India's stance of not playing Asia Cup in Pakistan. At times you want Pakistan to come to India for Asia Cup and then you say you don't want to visit Pakistan for the marquee event. Will India continue to snub Pakistan when Champions Trophy will be played here? If this is the way you want to go, neither you should allow us nor should come to Pakistan. Politics around it should be avoided. BCCI is an independent board unlike PCB, they should take their decisions independently without involving any kind of politics in it," Sethi told Sports Tak.
When further asked about the communication about the Asia Cup 2023 planning being lost in the transitional phase of PCB, Sethi consolidated his stance and affirmed that Pakistan didn't receive any communication.
"I asked the PCB CEO Faisal Hasnain whether we were informed about any such development regarding Asia Cup 2023. To which he also denied and said we were not consulted at all neither we were asked. I cross-checked with everyone before putting out the tweet to which everyone unanimously quashed any such claims." the PCB chief added.
