Ramiz Raja threatens BCCI to boycott 2023 ODI WC if India fails to tour Pakistan for Asia Cup

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ramiz Raja has warned the BCCI and said that if the Indian cricket team doesn’t travel to Pakistan to take part in Asia Cup, which is scheduled to be held in Pakistan next year, their team will also not play in the ICC ODI World Cup in India.

Earlier, the BCCI secretary and Asian Cricket Council chief, Jay Shah stated that the Indian national team will not be travelling to Pakistan for the Asia Cup scheduled to be held in 2023. He also suggested that the venue for the continental tournament will be shifted to the UAE. 

Ramiz Raja, during an interaction with Urdu News, went on to say that if Pakistan doesn’t travel to India for the 50-over World Cup, who will watch the Asia Cup 2023?

“If Pakistan doesn’t take part in the World Cup scheduled in India next year, who will watch it? We have a clear stand: If the Indian team comes here then we will go for the World Cup. If they don’t come then they can play the World Cup without us,” Raja has told Urdu News.

“We will adopt an aggressive approach. Our team is showing performance. I’ve always said we need to improve the economy of Pakistan cricket, and that can only happen when we perform well. In the 2021 T20 World Cup, we beat India. We beat India in the T20 Asia Cup. In one year, the Pakistan cricket team defeated a billion-dollar economy team twice.”

Pakistan, who last hosted a multi-nation event in 2009 (Asia Cup) has recently hosted Australia for a full tour while teams like West Indies and England traveled to the Asian country for their respective tours as well. England is set to tour Pakistan again for a three-match Test series, starting December 1.