After a long gap of 17 years, Team India is expected to tour Pakistan as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been reportedly awarded the hosting rights for the Asia Cup 2023.
As the PCB hosts its home fixtures in Pakistan and after being awarded the hosting rights of the showpiece event, the Men in Blue will have to visit the naeighbouring nation in 2023.
As per a reports in Cricbuzz, in the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting on Friday, it was unanimously decided to allot the 2023 edition of the Asia Cup to Pakistan, which will be played in the ODI format.
“The ACC meeting, chaired by Jay Shah, the secretary of BCCI, has recognised that it is the turn of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to host the event and the Pakistan board, as it has been maintaining in the recent times, has declared that it will not host the event at a neutral venue, but in Pakistan only,” the report said.
“The decision, it is understood, is a unanimous one. Sources from both the BCCI and PCB have confirmed the decisions. The exact schedule of the events will be finalised soon but the 50-over Asia Cup, incidentally, will be staged in a 50-over World Cup year that has been allotted to India. The PCB was represented by its new chairman Ramiz Raja,” it added.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja held an informal meeting Friday with his Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) counterpart Saurav Ganguly.
The meeting between the two cricket board heads took place at the sidelines of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting,
The 2023 edition will follow a T20 Asia Cup in Sri Lanka next year.
Also, as there will be a 50-over World Cup in 2023, the Asia Cup will be played in the ODI format.
Earlier in the year 2018, the prestigious tournament was also played in the 50-over format while the Asia Cup 2020, which was scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka, was cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic.
Notably, due to the political relations between the two countries, India and Pakistan now only face each other in ICC events and Asia Cups.
The two side had last met in the 2019 World Cup, which took place in England.
The arch-rivals are next scheduled to resume their rivalry during the league stage of the upcoming T20 World Cup 2021 on October 24.
During the ACC meeting, Raja also met representatives of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Emirates cricket boards.
Meanwhile, several reports also claimed that Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief Sourav Ganguly invited Raja to attend the Indian Premier League (IPL) final between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) however, the PCB chief did not attend the match as he was scheduled to return to Pakistan late on Friday after completing the ACC meeting.