Credit: Twitter
The discussions regarding the venue to host the Asia Cup 2023 are still going on. While the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) denied Team India visiting Pakistan for the tournament due to security reasons, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) proposed a hybrid model for hosting the tournament across multiple venues. Several Pakistan players have slammed the BCCI and Indian team for refusing to travel to Pakistan and joining them recently is the fast bowler Junaid Khan.
The PCB came up with a hybrid model during an Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting, according to which, India will play its games in the United Arab Emirates. However, that plan was rejected by the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).
Khan has slammed India for hesitating to visit Pakistan for the forthcoming tournament. He was critical of India’s stance and asked why the Indian team is concerned about security issues when other international teams are not. He also asked if the Indian players are aliens from other worlds who have security concerns.
Speaking to a Pakistani media platform, Khan said, "The situation in Pakistan is good. If other teams are coming, such as Australia, England, South Africa, and New Zealand, and they have no security problems, then why does India have a problem? What is the reason for this? Are they Aliens from another world who have security problems? "
Khan further said that the International Cricket Council (ICC) should look into the matter. He went on to say that Pakistan isn’t a small team, mentioning their rankings and said that they reached the top spot of the ODI ranking, and are still among the top three.
Notably, Pakistan reached the top ODI ranking spot for the first time ever since the ICC formally accepted the ODI rankings in January 2005 after defeating New Zealand in the fourth ODI. However, they lost the top spot after losing the fifth ODI to the Kiwis. He added, "The ICC should look into these issues; otherwise, cricket without Pakistan is impossible. Pakistan is not a small team; just a few days ago, Pakistan was the world's number one team and is still among the top three teams." D espite the controversy, the hosting rights of the forthcoming Asia Cup 2023 will remain with Pakistan.
