Najam Sethi, the former president of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), expressed his displeasure with the locations chosen for the 2023 Asia Cup. He attacked the decision to allow Lanka to host the matches despite unfavorable weather conditions made by Jay Shah, the BCCI secretary who also serves as the ACC’s president.
Sethi claimed that due to worries about the weather in Sri Lanka, he had suggested alternate locations, such as Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.
“In many meetings with Jay Shah and ACC colleagues, I lobbied for three approvals: Play all matches in Pakistan as international cricket had fully returned to Pakistan. I suggested that we play five games in Pakistan and eight in the UAE when this was rejected. They rejected this as well and implied that they might award Sri Lanka the privilege to host the Asia Cup if we didn’t bend,” he tweeted.
I pleaded for three approvals in various meetings with Jay Shah and ACC colleagues:
Play all matches in Pakistan as international cricket had fully returned to Pakistan.
When this was shot down
I proposed that we play five matches in Pakistan and eight in the UAE.
This also they…— Najam Sethi (@najamsethi) September 4, 2023
“Finally, they arranged four matches in Pakistan and listed the remaining matches in Sri Lanka after we said we would not play. We frequently emphasized that the rains predicted in SL would have a negative effect on game outcomes and reduce stadium attendance. We also suggested that, given economic reasons, gate receipts from stadiums in the UAE would be far higher than those in SL,” Sethi continued.
“When Mr. Shah refused, a high-level team from the Emirates Cricket Board flew to Mumbai to convince the BCCI to hold the Asia Cup there, as they had done in the past when two IPL games and one ACC ODI match were played there in the same weather. Their request was rejected by BCCI. Only Mr. Shah can explain why these alternatives weren’t chosen and Sri Lanka was made an exception against all logic, reason, and rationale. As we have seen, the selection of locations in Sri Lanka was equally problematic.
Najam Sethi tried to find a better location, but the ACC chose to stay in Sri Lanka due to worries about the intense temperatures in the Middle East.
Najam Sethi argued that Sri Lankan rains will affect game outcomes and decrease stadium attendance. He further underlined the economic factors, claiming that stadiums in the UAE will see much larger gate receipts.
Najam Sethi further disclosed that the Emirates Cricket Board approached the BCCI in an effort to persuade them to hold the Asia Cup in the UAE, a country that had previously hosted cricket competitions successfully under the same weather conditions. The BCCI, however, turned down the proposal.
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