With few months to go in Asia Cup 2023, the venue of the tournament is still not decided. After Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah said that India will not go to Pakistan to play Asia Cup, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chief Najam Sethi proposed a hybrid model at Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting. The ‘hybrid model’ is yet to be accepted. Meanwhile, in an interview with BBC, Sethi said that apart from the four games, others can be played in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, UAE or England as well. Responding to Sethi’s comments, former Pakistan opener Salman Butt took a sly dig at the PCB Chief.
“A neutral venue like this [England] is not viable for Asia Cup, it will not make sense as it will mean that there is not a single venue in Asia where it could be held,” Butt was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Butt went on to make a suggestion to include European teams as well and make it a dress rehearsal for ODI World Cup.
“You can include England in it and make it Euro-Asia Cup. You can also give this suggestion. In the past, Austral-Asia Cup used to take place in which Australia participated. You can also include Ireland and Netherlands in it. It would be a World Cup-like event, as it will have six teams from Asia and four countries from Europe, so it will be a ten-team tournament. It will be a dress rehearsal for World Cup,” the 38-year-old said.
“You can come up with as many ideas as possible but you also have to see what is practically possible,” the southpaw added.
Earlier this month in an exclusive interview with Sports Tak, Sethi had said threatened to pull out of ODI World Cup which will be played in India later this year as he said: “If India does not play Asia Cup in Pakistan and adopts a hybrid model, then World Cup will also be a hybrid model. Pakistan are No.1 for two days and India were no.3. If India are No.3 and No.2 and if they do not play, is it possible?”
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