The Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) proposed hybrid model for the Asia Cup 2023 is likely to be approved by the Asian Cricket Council, with Sri Lanka opted as the neutral venue.
According to the sources, all member boards of the ACC gave approval to the hybrid model suggested by the PCB, in which the first four matches will be played in Pakistan while the rest of the tournament will be held at a neutral venue.
The tournament will take place between September 1 and 17 and the final will only be played at a neutral venue if India is involved.
An official announcement in this regard will be made in the next few days.
The likely assent is a major breakthrough in a standstill which had engulfed the Asia Cup 2023 for a while due to a deadlock between the PCB and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) over the hosting of the tournament.
This year’s Asia Cup is originally scheduled to be hosted by Pakistan. However, the BCCI refused to send their team to Pakistan for the continental event on political grounds.
The BCCI since then made several efforts to take the hosting rights from Pakistan and to hold Asia Cup at a neutral venue.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was determined not to give away the hosting rights of the tournament and thus the chairman of the PCB management committee Najam Sethi came up with a hybrid model.
As per the PCB-proposed model, Pakistan will host the four to six group matches which will feature Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Afghanistan.
However, the BCCI has refused the hybrid proposal for both events and once again demanded to shift the Asia Cup entirely from Pakistan.
Following BCCI’s reported refusal, the final decision regarding the venue of the Asia Cup was likely to be taken on the sidelines of the Indian Premier League (IPL) final. However, no development was reported on the deadlock.
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