Reluctance to host Pakistan may cost India Asia Cup
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NEW DELHI - According to Times of India , after losing the Under-19 Asia Cup due to their reluctance to host Pakistan, India is in danger of losing the senior Asia Cup too. The tournament is supposed to be held in September next year, but the freeze in sporting ties with Pakistan seems to be getting worse by the day due to tense relations between the neighbouring countries.
As per the minutes of a meeting of the Committee of Administrators (CoA) on November 21, 'it's not clear whether the government of India will allow the Pakistan team to travel to India for the tournament. If not, then the BCCI needs to inform the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) of the same so that an alternate host country can be finalised.'
'If we didn't get the permission to host the Pakistan 's Under-19 team from the Centre, it looks highly unlikely that we'll get to do so in case of their senior team. The Pakistan athletes were given visas to take part in the Asian Athletics Championships, but the government says that cricket's case is a bit different, since it has an emotional connect with people from both the countries. When we approached the government with a request, we didn't get any response from them, but we need to decide fast since we need to inform the ACC soon. There are logistical, amongst many issues involved with hosting a tournament and a country needs time to sort them out,' a Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) official told TOI on Thursday.
Officials not happy with treatment of RanjiStar Sports' reluctance to telecast the Ranji Trophy this season doesn't seem to have gone down well with quite a few senior board officials. While the games were only telecast on Hotstar in the league stage, the BCCI's official broadcaster is showing the on-going quarterfinal between Mumbai and Karnataka on one of its new channels, Sports First.
