BCCI slams Asia Cup scheduling over India’s matches on consecutive days

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) lashed out over the schedule of the Asia Cup tournament to be played in the United Arab Emirates in September calling it “mindless”. The reason for the BCCI’s disappoints is a schedule that demands India to play on consecutive days with the second day’s match slated against arch-rivals Pakistan.

Speaking to Cricketnext, a senior BCCI official said: “The scheduling is mindless. There appears to be zero application of mind. How can you accept a scenario where India plays a game today and tomorrow it will face its arch-rival Pakistan who will have a two-day period of rest?”

Holders India, Pakistan and the qualifier (will be from UAE, Singapore, Oman, Nepal, Malaysia or Hong Kong) have been clubbed in Group A of the six-nation tournament. Pakistan plays the group opener against the qualifier on September 16 while India plays the qualifier and Pakistan on September 18 and 19, respectively. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan are in the other group.

BCCI slams itinerary; terms it unacceptable

The BCCI official said such an itinerary was unacceptable and needed to be reviewed. He also accused the organizers of only seeing the monetary part.

Former India captain Virender Sehwag also slammed the scheduling saying if there was a problem with it, India shouldn’t have played the Asia Cup at all.

However, this is not the first time that India was asked to play ODI matches on consecutive days. In the annual Sahara Cup against Pakistan at Toronto in Canada in the mid-1990s, India had played Pakistan on consecutive days on more than occasion. In the inaugural edition in 1996, India and Pakistan played three ODIs in as many days with the former winning two of them.

The Asia Cup is expected to begin on the 15th of September and will be played in the UAE.

Stay updated on ‘today’s cricket news‘ with CricTracker.com.