Pakistani Cricket Board Chief Najam Sethi©Twitter
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi has said that if the country refuses to participate in the Asia Cup this year, the country will lose about $3 million in tournament revenue. Sethi said that Pakistan was willing to bear this revenue loss as it was “a matter of principle” regarding the hosting rights of the Asia Cup. “We have made it very clear that unless the Asia Cup is held on a hybrid model as we have proposed, i.e. India playing its matches at an offshore venue and Pakistan hosting the remaining matches at home, we will not accept any other schedule nor play,” he said.
Pakistan will host the Asia Cup in September, but there is uncertainty over the venue of the tournament as India has made it clear that it cannot play in Pakistan.
Sethi has proposed a “hybrid model” to host the Asia Cup, where India will play its matches at an offshore venue. “We will not lose our hosting rights,” he added.
“Security is no excuse for them now and we have told them that if their government does not allow them to play in Pakistan, they must show us written evidence of this,” Sethi said.
“If all the other teams including Australia, England and New Zealand play in Pakistan without any problems, there should be no security issues for India to tour Pakistan.”
The PCB chairman said 80 percent of the Asian Cricket Council’s revenue came from matches in Pakistan and India. When asked, he admitted that if the ACC accepts the hybrid model for the tournament, it could also affect the ICC World Cup.
Asked about Pakistan’s possible refusal to participate in the World Cup, Sethi said relations with the ICC were different and relations could be negatively affected in such a scenario.
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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