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It’s been a few days since the schedule for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 was announced and since then the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has kept insisting that the team will travel to India for the tournament only after the government’s approval. Pakistan are set to play at five venues in the ODI World Cup including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai, however, the new PCB chief Zaka Ashraf said that if the Pakistan government doesn’t allow it, they won’t travel to India.
Amid all this, Pakistan sports minister Ehsaan Mazari has brought back the Asia Cup venue issue and has threatened World Cup participation. Mazari said that if India continue to demand neutral venue for Asia Cup, Pakistan would want the same for the World Cup.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Mazari said, “My personal opinion, since the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) comes under my ministry, is that if India demands to play their Asia Cup games at a neutral venue, we would also demand the same for our World Cup games in India.”
Mazari’s words came despite the Asian Cricket Council finalising the schedule which had Pakistan playing four games at home and remaining in Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup, which is scheduled to be held from August 31 to September 17. The Sports minister further said the issue will be discussed with Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif and the final decision will be taken after that.
“The committee will be headed by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and I am among the 11 ministers who are part of it. We will discuss the issue and give our recommendations to the PM, who is also the patron-in-chief of PCB. The PM will take the final decision,” he further said,
The BCCI secretary Jay Shah, who is also the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president had last year cleared that India won’t travel to Pakistan because of security and government reasons. Since then there has been a constant to-and-fro of threats, warnings and absurd arguments with Pakistan finally agreeing to the neutral venue proposal for a few games while getting to host other teams except India in some matches.
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