The much-awaited 2023 edition of Asia Cup is just months away but the International Council of Cricket (ICC) is yet to announce new host for the tournament ever since Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah made it clear that Rohit Sharma & Co. won't be traveling to Pakistan for the event. In response to BCCI's stern stance, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), time and again, has threatened to boycott the ODI World Cup 2023 in India.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Najam Sethi, who is doing everything he can to make sure Asia Cup 2023 is hosted by Pakistan on their home soil, has now questioned India's security concerns at a time when other teams and players in the world have no issues in travelling to Pakistan.
"I have kept my options open because when all teams are coming to Pakistan and have no issues with security. Then why is India worried about the security. In the same way we can also have security concerns over sending our team to India for the World Cup and I will be bringing this to the table at the coming meetings," said Najam Sethi in a press conference, India Today reported.
"Obviously we don’t support this stance (by India) because we want to hold the Asia Cup and remember it is not just about the Asia Cup and World Cup it is also about the Champions Trophy in 2025 in Pakistan.
"I had sought advice from the government and the situation is that we have to go by what our patron in chief tells us to do. If he says go and play in World Cup even if India doesn’t come for Asia Cup, what can we do? If he says don’t go it is a similar situation for us," he added.
India haven't played a bilateral series against Pakistan since January 2013.