Pakistan may pull out of Asia Cup 2023 if hosting rights are withdrawn: PCB’s Ramiz Raja

Ramiz Raja, Chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board, has said that the country might pull out of the 2023 Asia Cup if their hosting rights are taken away and the tournament gets shifted to another country as the Indian team will not be travelling to Pakistan.

Ramiz Raja, in November, had said that if India opts out of the Asia Cup because it might be held in Pakistan next year, Pakistan team will also not travel to India for the 50-over World Cup in 2023.

Ramiz was quoted by ESPNCricinfo on sidelines of the Pakistan-England Test in Rawalpindi as saying that Pakistan has won the rights fair and square. “If India does not come, they would not come. If the Asia Cup gets taken away from Pakistan, maybe we are the ones that pull out,” he added.

After a gap of 17 years, England have toured Pakistan. New Zealand will be playing a test series in Pakistan in the last week of December. Australia travelled to Pakistan during March 2022.

“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 2022 T20 World Cup. Pakistan cricket team has beaten the board of billion-dollar economy twice in one year,” he added.

Raja said that he knows Team India won’t come to Pakistan because the government won’t allow them to come due to strained relations. But it isn’t right to take the Asia Cup away from the host on that basis, he said

The speculations of team India travelling to Pakistan for the tournament were dismissed by BCCI secretary Jay Shah in October this year. He had said that the tournament must be held at a neutral venue.
 

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