ISLAMABAD – Pakistan is likely to adopt a strong stance at the AsianCricket Council meeting in Kuala Lumpur this week and will insist onhosting the Asian Emerging Nations Cup tournament this year.
According to a senior official of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Pakistan willmake it clear at the meeting that if India can’t come to Pakistan to playin the Emerging Nations Cup than Pakistan will also not be able to send itsteam for the Asia Cup in September in India.
The PCB will try to convince the member boards to move the Asia Cup out ofIndia to a third country like Malaysia or even Sri Lanka so that Pakistancan participate in it, the official said.
PCB Chairman, Najam Sethi, and chief operating officer, Subhan Ahmad aredue to fly out for Kuala Lumpur where Sethi will chair the meeting as ACCPresident.
Another official source said that Sethi had decided to adopt a strongstance with India which will be represented at the meeting on Monday andTuesday.
PCB is not happy over India’s attempts to move the Asian Emerging NationsCup out of Pakistan on security grounds. It will adopt a tit for tat policyby insisting it can’t send its team to India for the Asia Cup in thecurrent scenario, the source confirmed.
The ACC meeting will finalise dates for the two tournaments and the Asiaunder-19 Cup to be held this year.
Pakistan had got hosting rights for the Asian Emerging Nations Cup when anACC meeting was held in Lahore last October but delegates from India didn’tcome for the meeting.
Later India said it will not send team to Lahore for the Emerging NationsCup due to security concerns.
But now after successfully hosting the two PSL playoffs in Lahore and thefinal in Karachi and then the bilateral T20 series against the West Indies,the PCB believes that India has no grounds to resist having the AsianEmerging Nations Cup in Lahore, the source said.
Relations between Pakistan and India are at their lowest ebb and the Indianboard has steadfastly refused to entertain any full bilateral series withPakistan since 2008.
Sethi has said he will be holding discussions with other boards at the ICCmeeting in Kolkata from April 22 to convince them to send their teams toPakistan for bilateral series.
The Pakistan and Indian boards are also locked in a compensation casebefore the ICC disputes resolution committee with the PCB demanding thatthe BCCI pays them a compensation of around $70 million for rejecting an
MOU signed between the two boards in 2014 under which Pakistan and Indiawere to play six bilateral series between 2015 and 2023.