India will not travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup in 2023, raising questions as to where the tournament might now be held. The development occurred on the day of the BCCI's annual general meeting in Mumbai, where BCCI secretary Jay Shah, who is also the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president, suggested that next year's Asia Cup would have to be played at a different venue.
The ACC is yet to discuss the issue, after which a decision will be taken.
"The Asia Cup 2023 will be held at a neutral venue," Shah told the media after the AGM. "I am saying this as ACC President. We [India] can't go there [to Pakistan], they can't come here. In the past also, Asia Cup has been played at a neutral venue." The new set of BCCI office bearers - the president Roger Binny, treasurer Ashish Shelar and Rajiv Shukla, who was re-elected as board vice-president - were present when Shah spoke to the media.
As per the FTP, Pakistan are hosts of two major tournaments in the next three years - the 2023 Asia Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy - and India are the hosts of the 2023 ODI World Cup. Going by Shah's comments, that India cannot play in Pakistan and Pakistan cannot play in India, it remains to be seen what impact that has on the schedules for these tournaments.
India and Pakistan last played each other at the 2022 Asia Cup in UAE in August-September this year, and they are due to face off in the T20 World Cup in Melbourne on October 23.
However, the possibility of India travelling to Pakistan for the first time in nearly 15 years emerged after the BCCI listed the 2023 Asia Cup in Pakistan as one of the "major/multi-national events" for the Indian men's team in its AGM agenda note sent to state associations last week.
The PCB has not yet made a comment on the development of India not travelling to Pakistan for next year's Asia Cup.