‘Sit and talk,’ Younis Khan on Asia Cup deadlock

F.P. Report

KARACHI: Former Pakistan captain Younis Khan shared a piece of advice on the ongoing deadlock regarding the venue of Asia Cup 2023, stating that dialogue is the only way forward.

The former Pakistan captain joined the ongoing debate regarding the venue of this year’s Asia Cup and the deadlock between two arch-rivals Pakistan and India.

He while highlighting the importance of the rivalry in cricket also shared a piece of advice regarding the tie on the Asia Cup venue and shared that the officials should sit and talk to resolve this issue.

“Everyone [officials] should sit and talk regarding Asia Cup. If there’s no dialogue then the matter will not be resolved,” said Younis Khan during the MoU signing ceremony here for the Karachi Premier League.

Younis Khan further weighed in his opinion by asserting that Pakistan-India matches are beneficial for all and without them, there would be no entertainment in cricket.
“If there are no India-Pakistan matches, then there is no fun in cricket. If Pakistan plays India, everyone will benefit,” Younis Khan stated.

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.