Ramiz Raja, the head of the Pakistan Cricket Board, has insisted that the Indian cricket team will not play in the ICC ODI World Cup in India if they do not compete in the Asia Cup, which will be held in Pakistan next year. Notably, the Asia Cup will take place in 2023 before the ODI World Cup in 2019. Ramiz emphasised that Pakistan has played excellent cricket over the past two years and has twice defeated India. If India chooses not to visit Pakistan for the Asia Cup, Ramiz claimed that the PCB’s position on the matter is unwavering.
“Our position is blunt that if they (Indian team) come then we will go to the World Cup, if they don’t come then let them do it. Let them play without Pakistan. If Pakistan does not participate in the World Cup scheduled in India next year, who will see it? We will adopt an aggressive approach, our team is showing performance, we have defeated the biggest business-making cricket team in the world, we have played the final of the T20 World Cup. I have always said that we have to improve the economy of Pakistan cricket and that will only happen when our team performs well, we have done it in the 2021 T20 World Cup. Beat India, we beat India in the Asia Cup, Pakistan cricket team has beaten the board of billion dollar economy twice in one year,” Ramiz Raja said.
Pakistan last hosted a multi-nation event in 2009, it should be noted (Asia Cup). After a 2009 terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan squad outside the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, teams from around the world ceased visiting the country. 2015 saw the return of international cricket to Pakistan when Zimbabwe played a three-match ODI series there. In 2017, Sri Lanka also provided assistance by visiting Pakistan for a single ODI. Since then, a number of teams—including Australia earlier this year—have toured Pakistan. Three Test matches between England and Pakistan will be played starting on December 1 next month.