Asia Cup hosting doubtful as BCCI still awaiting response from the government

The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) had moved the U19 Asia Cup out of India when the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) informed them about saga around inviting the Pakistan cricket team. BCCI informed the ACC that they have not received the government’s nod in inviting the Pakistani cricket team for the tournament. The relationship between the two countries has been sour for a long time.

Both India and Pakistan have not played a Test series since Pakistan’s tour of India way back in 2007. They have faced each other only in the ICC tournaments or in the Asia Cup. India had won the Asia cup in 2016 when they had beaten Bangladesh in the final.

In 2018, India will act as the host for the Asia Cup. But the sour reasons between the neighboring countries have come into the picture again as Indian board is still awaiting a clearance from the central government of India. Earlier the government had not given the permission to host Pakistan U19 team and hence the tournament was moved to Malaysia.

BCCI official has his say

A BCCI official on Thursday while speaking to TOI said, “If we didn’t get the permission to host the Pakistan’s Under-19 team from the center, it looks highly unlikely that we’ll get to do so in case of their senior team. The Pakistan athletes were given visas to take part in the Asian Athletics Championships, but the government says that cricket’s case is a bit different, since it has an emotional connect with people from both the countries. When we approached the government with a request, we didn’t get any response from them, but we need to decide fast since we need to inform the ACC soon. There are logistical, amongst many issues, involved with hosting a tournament and a country needs time to sort them out.”

Earlier, the Committee of Administrators (CoA) had met on 21st November to chalk out a solution but as per details which came out, “it’s not clear whether the Government of India will allow the Pakistan team to travel to India for the tournament. If not, then the BCCI needs to inform the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) of the same so that an alternate host country can be finalized.” This now leaves the Asia Cup in a limbo.