BCCI clarifies that India won't be traveling to Pakistan for the 2023 Asia Cup

As Pakistan has been shouldered with the onus of conducting the next edition of the Asia Cup in 2023, there were talks of India heading over to their continental rivals to be a part of the continental fray. However, BCCI secretary, Jay Shah has now made it clear that India will not be traveling to Pakistan to be a part of the tournament and has requested for the venue to be changed to a neutral one.

Jay Shah, the secretary of BCCI and the ACC president, said in a conference post the 91st AGM held in Mumbai, “Neutral venue for Asia Cup is not unprecedented and we have decided that we will not travel to Pakistan. It's the govt that decides over the permission of our team visiting Pakistan so we won't comment on that but for the 2023 Asia Cup, it is decided that the tournament will be held at a neutral venue."

Going by the FTP, Pakistan is scheduled to host two grand cricketing events in the forthcoming years as they have the Asia Cup in 2023 and the ICC Champions Trophy in 2025. However, with BCCI making it clear that they won’t be traveling to Pakistan, it would be interesting to see how ICC and PCB react to the development.

Earlier in August when Rohit Sharma was asked whether he would be traveling to Pakistan for cricket, he gave a crystal-clear response, stating, “If I had the option to answer this question, I would have given it. Respectable boards make these decisions. This is not in our hands but if boards decide to play, then we will play."