Credit: Twitter
The Asia Cup 2023 has been a subject of controversy as the BCCI refused to send their team to Pakistan for the tournament, citing security and political reasons. The Indian Cricket Board also demanded that the event be shifted to a neutral venue, which did not go down well with the PCB. With the Asia Cup less than two months away, the ACC has not cleared the ambiguity surrounding the tournament which doesn’t help the preparations of the teams participating.
Former Pakistan pacer, Mohammed Amir expressed his disappointment and heavily criticized BCCI for their ‘lame excuses’ as quoted by Cricket Pakistan. Amir demanded that the PCB should be treated with more respect and that BCCI is writing off the Pakistan Board.
Amir said, "The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is being completely written off, which means it is being treated disrespectfully. It's like the cricket board, or Pakistan cricket itself, has no worth at all, and they (BCCI) are making continuous efforts to prove that."
"Whenever PCB says to do this or that, BCCI comes up with various lame excuses like bad weather, the expenses are too high, security reasons," he added. The 31-year-old defended PCB’s efforts to give visiting teams a safe environment and opinionated that the cricketing world should focus on promoting a peaceful environment for the sport.
The former Pakistani pacer said, "There is only one model, and that is cricket. Let it stay right; whether it's happening in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, or Bangladesh, please let it happen peacefully behaving like stubborn children. If someone creates a security issue even in Pakistan, the ICC team was here four days ago; I was also there at the National Cricket Academy. PCB provided them with such hospitality."
PCB has proposed a hybrid model is proposed with Sri Lanka co-hosting the tournament along with Pakistan and no matches involving India to be held in Pakistan. According to reports, the hybrid model is likely to be accepted by the Asia Cricket Council and the Asia Cup will be played in the first two weeks of September in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.