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Pakistan Cricket Board chief Ramiz Raja has once again reiterated its stance on not travelling to India for the World Cup 2023 if the latter pushes Asia Cup 2023 to the neutral venue. Earlier, BCCI secretary Jay Shah had said that the Indian team will not be travelling to Pakistan for the Asia Cup scheduled to be held in 2023 and suggested that the venues be shifted to UAE.
The BCCI Secretary, who is also the President of the Asian Cricket Council, left PCB furious and forced Ramiz Raja to hit back at the Indian cricket board. In his recent interaction with a Pakistan news channel, Ramiz Raja fired shots at BCCI and the Indian team, stating if the Indian team does not travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup, Babar Azam & Co. will not travel to India for the World Cup 2023.
"If Pakistan does not participate in the World Cup scheduled in India next year, who will watch it? We have a clear stand: If the Indian team comes here, then we will go for the World Cup. They can play the World Cup without us if they don't come. So we will adopt an aggressive approach. Our team is showing performance. I have always said that we need to improve the Pakistan cricket economy, which can only happen when we perform well. In one year, the Pakistan cricket team defeated a billion-dollar economy team twice," Ramiz Raja said.
The two matches to which PCB Chief is referring is one from the T20 World Cup 2021 opener, where Babar Azam and their men beat Team India by 10 wickets, followed by yet another comprehensive win in the T20 Asia Cup 2022 in UAE. While Team India beat their arch-rivals in their Asia Cup opener, Pakistan avenged their loss in the Super -4 stage with a thumping victory.
Meanwhile, Pakistan made a remarkable comeback in T20 World Cup 2022 after suffering back-to-back defeats in the group stage. Babar Azam led the side to the ICC tournament's final but succumbed to England in the summit clash.