NAJAM SETHI
PCB chief Najam Sethi has said in BBC’s Stumped podcast that he was hopeful the Asia Cup could still be played in Pakistan and added that discussion regarding ‘hybrid-model’ with the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has been positive. Pakistan are the official hosts of the upcoming Asia Cup, slated to be played in ODI format.
According the Sethi, the hybrid model would see only four out of 13 matches being played in Pakistan while the rest of the games will be held at a neutral venue. He believes that if the hybrid model works, it could be the solution to how Pakistan can play the upcoming ODI World Cup matches outside India.
“We play four matches in Pakistan, the teams come straight here and then everybody moves to the neutral venue wherever that may be. We play the rest of games there. I made the concession that in the event we get to the final we play the final in a neutral venue, whether against India or anyone else. We’ve bent over backwards to solve all these issues,” Sethi was quoted as saying in the podcast by ESPNCricinfo.
“We are happy to play in the Asia Cup but it can’t be that India refuses to come to Pakistan and then doesn’t allow us to even host few of our matches at a neutral venue. Don’t forget immediately after the Asia Cup, we have the World Cup coming and it’s going to be in India and it’s an ICC event. What happens if India doesn’t come to Pakistan or India torpedoes my hybrid model? I don’t think my government will allow me to go to India to play the World Cup,” he added.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and the SLC (Sri Lanka Cricket) both rejected the idea of playing part of the tournament in UAE. The heat was a major factor cited by BCB along with the logistics.
SLC had also given similar reasons but they were open to the idea of hosting the tournament on behalf of Pakistan.
“We have written to the ACC to say that we are against the hybrid model,” Mohan de Silva, the SLC secretary had previously said.
“If the offer is there to play the tournament in Sri Lanka, we will take it. Pakistan will be the official hosts,” Mohan had added.
Sethi said his proposal solves all the problems. He was also open to the idea that part of the tournament be played in Sri Lanka.
“The only objection Bangladesh made was that it’s going to be too hot in September in the UAE and that would be a problem. Then the other issue was logistics. The proposal that I submitted takes care of all logistic problems,” he had said.
“We need to reserve venues in the UAE or Sri Lanka or wherever we decide. Time has already run out, the ACC has to make a decision. We have made our position clear. I had a meeting with a high-level ACC interlocutor two days ago in Dubai. He liked it, he said it is eminently workable. He said he would go back to [BCCI secretary and ACC president] Jay Shah and talk to him,” he added.
