Pakistan Cricket Board chief Ramiz Raja has cleared his bold stand on boycotting ICC ODI World Cup in India.
The PCB chief is keen to organize the Asia Cup in Pakistan in 2023 and has cleared that if the Indian cricket team doesn’t take part in the Asia Cup, their team won’t feature in ODI World Cup in India.
Ramiz Raja’s bold stand on hosting Asia Cup 2023 in Pakistan
“Our position is blunt that if they (Indian team) come then we will go to the World Cup, if they don’t come then let them do it. Let them play without Pakistan. If Pakistan does not participate in the World Cup scheduled in India next year, who will see it? We will adopt an aggressive approach, our team is showing performance, we have defeated the biggest business-making cricket team in the world, we have played the final of the T20 World Cup. I have always said that we have to improve the economy of Pakistan cricket and that will only happen when our team performs well, we have done it in the 2021 T20 World Cup. Beat India, we beat India in the Asia Cup, Pakistan cricket team has beaten the board of billion dollar economy twice in one year,” Ramiz Raja was quoted as saying by Urdu News.
Pakistan has been a no-go area for Team India since 2008 while Pakistan last hosted a multi-nation event in 2009 (Asia Cup). BCCI secretary, Jay Shah, made it clear that the Indian Team won’t travel to Pakistan next year just before the match in T20 World Cup which raised some eyebrows across the border.
While BCCI doesn’t get government’s nod to travel to Pakistan for any series, a few nations have already started playing in Pakistan including England and Australia who played a bilateral series against Pakistan earlier this year. The PCB is keen on hosting the Asia Cup in Pakistan and not in any neutral venue.
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The Asia Cup will be organised next year ahead of the ODI World Cup and will be played in One-day format so as to better prepare the Asian Teams for the ODI World Cup scheduled in October-November in India next year.