Asia Cup 2023: Hybrid model? Bangladesh and Sri Lanka say okay

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has proposed a hybrid model twice meetings with Asian Cricket Council (ACC).

Pakistan has now gotten green signal from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka for the second proposal of the hybrid model in which the first four matches will be played in Pakistan and the rest of the tournament will be played in a neutral venue.

According to reports, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka cricket boards have emailed PCB that they have no issues with the proposed model.

PCB has proposed two options in the hybrid model. The first option says that India shall play their respective matches at a neutral venue while all other matches will be played in Pakistan, as originally planned.

The second option says that the initial four matches of the group stage in the primary phase of the tournament shall be played in Pakistan. Moreover, the next phase, including matches of India and finals, are to be played at a neutral venue.

There is a larger probability and a higher success ratio for the second option to be locked. In that scenario, Pakistan will play their group stage match against Nepal on home ground. Likewise, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan will also be playing their pool matches in Pakistan.

There is a chance that ACC will call a crucial and final meeting this week to discuss the hybrid model.

Previously, the chairman of PCB, Najam Sethi, gave a straight-up warning of pulling out from Asia Cup 2023 in case the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) doesn’t end up affirming the hybrid model.

For this very reason, a meeting has been called by ACC, incorporating all members of the council to discuss the hybrid model.

Jay Shah, ACC President, and also the secretary of BCCI, is the son of Amit Shah, a powerful BJP leader. BCCI initially influenced other teams to back off from playing in Pakistan and BCCI started planning their own five nation version of Asia Cup excluding Pakistan.

But this all seems to have gone in vain because official broadcasters did not want to exclude Pakistan from the tournament.

Keeping in mind that earlier, BCCI refuted the idea of sending their team to Pakistan for this year’s Asia Cup and kept on stressing that the entire tournament should be held at a neutral venue.

On the contrary, PCB is adamant about hosting the event in their territory, at least some part of it; otherwise, it would waive off all the efforts made in order to summon international cricket back to the country.

Pakistan and India are known arch-rivals based on their historical grounds – fans from both ends of the borders anticipate their face-off on the cricket field with eagerness and excitement.

However, it’s no less than unfortunate that both the national teams haven’t played each other on home soil in any format of the game since 2012.