India, Pakistan tussle over Asia Cup slot
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|| Desk Report ||
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has claimed that the time slot Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is telling for the upcoming Asia Cup is not suitable for them.
PCB Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Wasim Khan earlier said that the 2020 Asia Cup will be held in the September or October window and the possible venue will be Sri Lanka or United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Wasim also said if the Twenty20 World Cup got postponed, the BCCI then plans to hold the Indian Premier League (IPL) in that slot, but PCB is thinking otherwise.
In response to that, a board functionary in the know of developments proposed PCB to postpone their Pakistan Super League (PSL) next season and host the Asia Cup in that window.
“Asia Cup will be a struggle this year. Going by the statement of the Chief Executive of the PCB, the window that suits them doesn’t suit India. Maybe they can postpone PSL next year if BCCI is able to open up a window during that period. Otherwise conducting the Asia Cup doesn’t seem too practical as these are challenging times,” the functionary said.
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, PCB kept holding their knockout stages of PCL. They’re now looking to stage that in the November window and are willing to play the next season in the regular time frame, which is February-March.
The BCCI has already cleared the air that the matches of the domestic cricket and bilateral series will be the main focus of area for the BCCI when cricket restarts in the post-COVID era.
Also, the players are even eyeing for IPL which could be the best tournament to start. The Indian cricket board has recently announced that tours of Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe have been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Indian cricket team will not travel to Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe owing to the current threat of COVID-19. Team India was originally scheduled to travel to the island nation from 24th June 2020 for three ODIs and as many T20Is and to Zimbabwe for a series comprising three ODIs starting 22nd August 2020,” the BCCI said in a press release.
“As stated in the earlier press release issued on 17th May, the BCCI will conduct a camp for its contracted players only when it is completely safe to train outdoors,” the media release concluded.
