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The upcoming edition of the Asia Cup, which is set to be played in T20 format in India, currently hangs in doubt after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) refused to travel to Bangladesh for the scheduled to Annual General Meeting, set to take place later this month. While the decision from the BCCI reportedly comes seeing the ongoing political situation in the country, two more cricketing boards, the Sri Lanka Cricket and the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has now stood by BCCI’s decision.
It is to be noted the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) AGM, which is chaired by Mohsin Naqvi, is scheduled to take place on July 24-25 in Dhaka. However, with the Asia Cup being the next major ACC event, and the fixtures and schedule of the tournament are set to be finalised in the upcoming meeting, but the BCCI have insisted to change the venue.
Asia Cup 2025 in jeopardy as BCCI, SLC and ACB oppose ACC AGM meeting in Dhaka
While the ACC Chairman has been adamant to host the meeting in Dhaka, a recent development has reported that Sri Lanka Cricket and Afghanistan Cricket Board have also demanded change in the venue. A Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) insider recently informed, as quoted by Cricbuzz, saying, "It now seems the event has turned into a geopolitical matter. Aminul (Islam, the interim head of the BCB) could have handled the situation more carefully when approached by the PCB President to host the meeting. I think he could have taken more time because, in situations like this, taking time is part of the game. Probably due to inexperience, he agreed to host it without fully understanding the geopolitical implications.”
The source further added, "Bulbul (Aminul) was requested to cancel the meeting as some of the board directors were not ready to do anything that can hurt the BCCI but the President insisted that he had given his word so cannot return back after giving his words to PCB.” This move has now left concerns looming on the ACC Chair as the three permanent (Test playing) members are not keen to travel to Dhaka.
It is to be noted that ACC consists of Nepal, UAE, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar as full members, whereas the Associate nations comprises of Bahrain, Bhutan, Cambodia, Tajikistan, Maldives, Japan, Iran, China, Myanmar and Indonesia. According to the report, the ACC constitution states that at least 10 full or Associate members will also have to be present in the meeting, but presence of Oman, Nepal, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, Bhutan, Maldives, Myanmar and Indonesia seem doubtful.
