“You know who rules Ahmedabad,” Najam Sethi shuts down idea of IND-PAK match in Ahmedabad
Sethi wants Pakistan to play their World Cup matches in Dhaka or any other venue.
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Najam Sethi
When reports emerged that Pakistan will play their 2023 World Cup match against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Najam Sethi ended up mocking the idea. Sethi believes this is a political campaign so the Babar Azam-led side will have security issues. Notably, the Ahmedabad stadium is the largest cricket stadium in the world, having a seating capacity of around 1,30,000 and it is set to host the final as well.
“When I heard that the Pakistan match was to be in Ahmedabad, I smiled and said to myself- ‘This is one way to make sure we don’t come to India’. I mean if you’d said Chennai and Kolkata, it might have made sense,” Sethi told Indian Express.
“It gave the impression that this was a red herring that was thrown in our way to tell us, ‘Hey, we are going to play you in Ahmedabad and you know who rules Ahmedabad’,” Sethi added.
The 2023 Aisa Cup tussle doesn’t seem to end. The PCB created a hybrid model to host the continental tournament in Pakistan except for India’s matches, which UAE would have played host to. But the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah, who is also the president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), refused the model.
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Najam Sethi wants Pakistan to play their World Cup matches at a neutral venue
The journalist-turned-PCB-chief then stated that if the BCCI accepts the hybrid model plan, then Pakistan would also play their World Cup matches at a neutral venue. India will host the 2023 ODI World Cup in October-November.
Sethi wants Pakistan to play their World Cup matches in Dhaka or any other venue and wants the same steps to be taken during the Champions Trophy as well. Pakistan will host the 2025 Champions Trophy and if the current issue of the Asia Cup doesn’t solve, it can further complicate it for the involved countries as well.
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