Najam Sethi hasn’t spoken to ICC about playing World Cup matches in Bangladesh: PCB
Lahore. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday clarified that its chairman Najam Sethi never put forward the view at the ICC Board meeting that their men’s team was keen to play their World Cup matches in Bangladesh instead of India.
The ICC had said that Bangladesh is not even a contender to host any World Cup match as the BCCI (Indian Cricket Board) had assured that there would be no visa issues for the Pakistan team. The PCB clarified that the concept of ‘hybrid model’ of the tournament was only relevant to the Asia Cup as the Indian team would not be traveling to Pakistan.
Speaking to the media in Rawalpindi/Islamabad on Thursday, Sethi said that he had briefed the media about the ‘hybrid model’ presented to the ACC (Asian Cricket Council) officials for the Asia Cup so that the BCCI To end the deadlock after the decision of not sending the team to Pakistan. According to a PCB statement, “The proposal to play India’s matches at a neutral venue and the rest in Pakistan is under discussion in the ACC.” Sethi said that a section of the media had misrepresented his point of view. He said in this release, “At no stage during Thursday’s media interaction did I make any comment on the ICC or the Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, which is scheduled in October. The matter has not been discussed in any ICC forum so far.
Spoke to ICC sources who mentioned that the matter was neither raised nor discussed informally and is ‘just speculation’. The PCB, through a media release, questioned one of its local English news. “The PCB is disappointed that a leading English-language newspaper has misrepresented, misinterpreted Sethi’s comments and given the impression that the PCB’s ‘hybrid model’ was introduced at the ICC and that discussed, which is factually incorrect.
However, after getting into the nitty gritty, the PCB consoled the country’s media by mentioning in a press release that the concept of a hybrid model could be discussed later. It is however known to everyone in the ICC that any such recommendation would be rejected. According to the statement, “It would also be wrong to say that the ‘hybrid model’ will not be advocated. The issue will be taken up with the ICC when the time comes.” There is little chance that the ACC will pass the budget for Pakistan to play an Asia Cup match at home, instead of the United Arab Emirates or Qatar. The only possibility in this case would be for the PCB to bear all the logistics costs to host the matches in its own country, which would also include the broadcasters’ expenses.
