PCB makes effort to host some Asia Cup games on home soil

KARACHI: In a desperate bid to host some matches of the Asia Cup in Pakistan, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is now trying to convince the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) to allocate four first-round games to the country.

Otherwise, the PCB could pull out of the continental body. The PCB chairman Najam Sethi’s hybrid model of Pakistan playing its home games, apart from India encounter, in their own country has been rejected by other member nations. The PCB, in turn, has rejected the idea of hosting Asia Cup matches in Sri Lanka.

“Yes, Sethi, as part of the plan B of the hybrid model proposed by us (PCB) for the Asia Cup, has informed the ACC that the PCB will be satisfied hosting four games at home,” a reliable source close to the cricket board said on Thursday.

The source said that Sethi had conveyed to the ACC that if plan B of the PCB was rejected by the ACC members, Pakistan would not play in the Asia Cup and would withdraw from the continental body. It is learnt that Sethi had told the ACC officials that PCB would be happy to play most of its remaining matches in the UAE.

“The challenge is that Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India are insisting that the event should not be held in the UAE in September as the weather is very hot,” the source said.