Tag: BCCI

  • Modi influence: BJP leader Amit Shah forces son Jay Shah to exclude Pakistan from Asia Cup

    Modi influence: BJP leader Amit Shah forces son Jay Shah to exclude Pakistan from Asia Cup

    The controversy surrounding the upcoming Asia Cup has taken yet another bad turn as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders intervene into the stand-off between Pakistan and India.

    Sources are saying that Asia Cup will be canceled and India is planning instead to play a five- nation Asian cricket cup in India excluding Pakistan.

    Media speculations are rife that BJP leader Amit Shah has influenced his son Jay Shah, who is the president of Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and also the secretary of Board of control for cricket in India (BCCI), to exclude Pakistan from Asia Cup 2023.

    The same, as yet unconfirmed, reports have said that Amit Shah is also forcing his son not to send the Indian team to Pakistan. Reportedly, these decisions were debated overnight at the behest of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    Pakistan is likely to boycott World Cup 2023 if India axes Asia Cup 2023, with Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Najam Sethi stating loud and clear that we will not back off from hosting the tournament as no team has security concerns. “We have hosted many international teams, so it’s clear that there is no security threats in Pakistan for Indian team.

    If India will not want to play their matches in Pakistan we will provide them hybrid model but it’s we who decide where Indian Team will play, not them, because we are the host,” he said.

    Asia Cup without Pakistan will not be the same because the revenue India and Pakistan matches produce is unmatchable.

  • Fact Check: Is Asia Cup getting delayed?

    Fact Check: Is Asia Cup getting delayed?

    There is no possibility of postponing the Asia Cup or shifting the tournament to a neutral venue, Asian Cricket Council (ACC) sources have confirmed to Dawn News, stating that it did not send any notification to the member countries.

    Pakistani media reports have claimed that if the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) does not agree to play the Asia Cup at a neutral venue, the tournament may be out of the hands of the country.

    Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah and the Chairman Asian Cricket Council (ACC) have stated that India will not travel to Pakistan for Asia Cup 2023. The tournament is scheduled to be hosted by Pakistan but BCCI continuously threatens PCB that they will not send their team to the host country and force the Cup to shifted to a neutral venue.

    Asia Cup 2023 is scheduled to be played in September but the final date has not been announced yet.

    PCB management committee has proposed a hybrid model in which Pakistan will play their matches in Pakistan but India will play their matches in Dubai. Najam Sethi had clarified that “We will decide where the Indian team will play their matches, not them. We have the right to decide and we will not back off from the hosting”

    The Indian cricket board is believed to want the entire tournament to be shifted to the UAE, as was done in 2018 and 2022 when India and Sri Lanka hosted the tournament.

    A member of the ACC board said on condition of anonymity that “messages have been exchanged but no discussion or proposal has been made to postpone the Asia Cup”.

    He further said that if the Asia Cup is canceled, the PCB will be informed first, but nothing has happened so far.

    According to him, the ACC will have to convene an executive board meeting to postpone or cancel the event.
    Sources further said that Chairman Jay Shah can call a meeting (virtual or physical) in 7 days, but so far there is no information about any such meeting.

    ACC sources said that to the best of their knowledge, the last official exchange of mail between the PCB, ACC and BCCI was an invitation to assure the Indian team of maximum security and best hospitality.

    He said that however, obviously, it is difficult for India to travel to Pakistan in the current sensitive political environment.

    Another issue is how much money the official broadcaster has promised on contracts, which include at least two guaranteed Pak-India matches and a bonus third match if both teams reach the final.

    “We should remember the media rights and the deal with Star Sports who have paid crores of rupees for at least two Pak-India matches in the Asia Cup,” he said.

    Sources are clear that if the board meeting of ACC will decide to cancel the tournament so it will not only effect the participation of Pakistan in World Cup 2023 but will be a dangerous thing for the bilateral relationships of Pakistan with other countries.

  • BCCI takes strict action against Kohli, Haq, Gambhir for ugly fight in IPL

    BCCI takes strict action against Kohli, Haq, Gambhir for ugly fight in IPL

    A heated argument took place between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir after Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) beat Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by 18 runs in a low-scoring thriller at the Ekana Stadium during Indian Premier League (IPL).

    Now Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir and Naveen-ul-Haq have been fined for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct. LSG’s Naveen-ul-Haq was also spotted arguing with Kohli and that did not go down well with the IPL management.

    “Mr Gambhir admitted to the Level 2 offence under Article 2.21 of the IPL Code of Conduct and has been fined 100 per cent of his match fee. Similarly, Mr Kohli admitted to the Level 2 offence under Article 2.21 of the IPL Code of Conduct and has been fined 100 per cent of his match fee. Mr Naveen-ul-Haq, on the other hand, has been fined 50 per cent of his match fees for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct during the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore,” read a statement from the IPL.

    This is not the first time that Virat and Gautam have locked horns with each other. Whenever these two face each other, fans have seen aggression from both sides.

    Afghan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq has crafted a bad image in the cricket world by showing abusive aggression. A gesture he made while he aggressively shook hands with Kohli left cricketing fans aghast.

    Match Highlights: Royal Challengers Bangalore 126/9 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 44, Virat Kohli 31; Naveen-ul-Haq 3-30, Ravi Bishnoi 2-21) beat Lucknow Super Giants 108 all out in 19.5 overs (K. Gowtham 23, Amit Mishra 19; Josh Hazlewood 2-15, Karn Sharma 2-20) by 18 runs

  • Har maidan main Fateh; King Babar is just one win away from breaking T20I record

    Har maidan main Fateh; King Babar is just one win away from breaking T20I record

    Pakistan skipper Babar Azam is just one win away from breaking another record in T20 internationals.

    Babar will have the opportunity to write his name in history as the captain with the most number of wins when his side meets New Zealand in the fourth T20I at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Thursday (today).

    Currently, Babar is the joint-holder of this record with Afghanistan’s Asghar Afghan and England’s Eoin Morgan after 42 wins. The 28-year-old has captained the Green Shirts in 69 T20 Internationals.

    Under his captaincy, Pakistan reached the semifinals of two successive T20 World Cups — 2021 and 2022 — and finished as runner-ups in the latter.

    During the second T20I against the Black Caps, Babar scored his third T20I century at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

    Babar is close to breaking the record of Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma, who currently tops the International Cricket Council (ICC) list with four centuries.

    He is the only Pakistan batter with more than one ton in the format. The hundred puts Babar close to the top of the list of batters with the most T20I tons.

    During the match, Babar managed to score a half-century on merely 36 balls and then slammed 51 runs off the next 22 deliveries, including 36 runs off the last three overs.

    Babar smashed James Neesham for two fours and a six in the last over, completing 100 runs off the final ball of the innings.

  • IPL 2023; Virat Kohli fined for violating IPL rules in match against CSK

    IPL 2023; Virat Kohli fined for violating IPL rules in match against CSK

    Indian cricket star Virat Kohli was fined on Tuesday for breaching the Indian Premier League (IPL) code of conduct, after his team Royal Challengers Bangalore (RBC) went down to Chennai in a nail-biting match.

    Kohli’s wild celebration of Chennai batsman Shivam Dube’s wicket at a crucial point of the high-scoring game on Monday resulted in the sanction, according to media reports.

    Kohli must pay 10 percent of his match fees for the ‘Level 1 offence’ that he committed. A statement issued by IPL says that the batter admitted to the offence.
    MS Dhoni led CSK won by eight runs after the nail biting finish in which record-equaling 33 sixes were hit.
    Kohli was once fined when he hit a plastic chair with his bat after getting dismissed in an IPL match. King Kohli, many speculate, can’t control his emotions on the field.

    According to media reports, Kohli has fallen out with India’s former cricket chief Saurav Ganguly with the two men reportedly “unfollowing” each other on Instagram.

    Kohli quit as Indian T20 skipper in late 2021 and in January 2022 was sacked from the 50-over format captaincy, later giving up leading the Test side too after a reported fall-out with Ganguly.

  • BCCI sources say entire Asia Cup to be shifted to UAE or Qatar

    BCCI sources say entire Asia Cup to be shifted to UAE or Qatar

    Sources within Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have denied media reports that Pakistan will likely play their World Cup 2023 matches in Bangladesh.

    According to media reports, Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has been continuously pressurised by BCCI to shift Asia Cup to a neutral venue, however Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has stuck to its stance that if they are deprived of hosting Asia Cup, then they will boycott the tournament and will not travel to India for World Cup 2023.

    PCB has dragged BCCI towards a ‘hybrid model” for the tournament.

    Under this proposed model, other teams would play their Asia Cup matches in Pakistan, while the Indian team would play their matches in another country. Now, according to media reports, Pakistan is also considering the possibility of playing their World Cup matches at a neutral location.

    However according to sources in BCCI that talked tto Press trust of India (PTI), these are just pressure tactics from PCB, while there is a probability of shifting entire Asia Cup to Qatar or United Arab Emirates.

    “We understand that this is a kind of pressure tactic applied by PCB because of the Asia Cup issue. But let me tell you, ultimately, Asia Cup will also be played in UAE or Qatar and probably Pakistan will also have to play its matches in one of these countries,” BCCI source said.

    “As far as Pakistan playing its Asia Cup games in Pakistan is concerned, the budget for the tournament is passed by the Asian Cricket Council. If ACC says that it’s not a commercially viable proposition to hold Asia Cup in two countries, how can Pakistan play its games at home? ACC, for all you know, might not pass the budget,” the BCCI source added.

  • Pakistan will not visit India for WC 23 if India does not come for Asia Cup 2023

    Pakistan will not visit India for WC 23 if India does not come for Asia Cup 2023

    Chairman Pakistan Cricket board Najam Sethi has talked about the controversy surrounding India’s reluctance to travel to Pakistan for Asia Cup 2023. India has threatened Pakistan several times that their cricket team will not come to the neighbouring country, pressurising the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) to change the venue and shift the tournament to UAE.

    Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Najam Sethi on Monday said that the government will take a final decision on whether the national team will travel to India for this year’s World Cup.

    Sethi stated unequivocally that PCB will deal on a vice versa basis with the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) which has said that it will not send its team to Pakistan to feature in the Asia Cup ahead of the World Cup.

    Pakistan is also due to host the ICC Champions Trophy in 2025 and clarity on what happens is due to come during meetings of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the ACC in the United Arab Emirates on March 20.

    “Our stance is that if the BCCI continues to take a stand against Pakistan, we will also boycott to visit India,” Sethi told reporters at a news conference. “It is an unsolved matter. We have to speak with the ACC and ICC and take a position. I have asked to the Govt to take the decision about visiting India.

    “India says that there are security issues in Pakistan whilst teams from the entire world have no issues with it. If I say that we also have security threats in India due to communal environment there, it carries weight. It’s a complex issue and we have to keep in front the input of the government and our security agencies.”

    Recently Indian former opening batter and misanthropist against Pakistan Gautam Gambhir say “Personally I think Jawans are more important than a cricket match 2 points are matter nothing, Country comes first.”

  • ‘India can go to hell’- Javed Miandad bursts out on Asia Cup controversy

    ‘India can go to hell’- Javed Miandad bursts out on Asia Cup controversy

    Pakistan’s former captain Javed Miandad has slammed Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on its refusal to travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup 2023.
    “India can go to hell,” if they do not want to come to Pakistan, the batting great said to media on Monday.

    BCCI secretary and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president Jay Shah had warned that India will not travel to Pakistan for the upcoming Asia Cup this year. Shah also said that BCCI will insist on a neutral location for the Indo-Pak clash and for the tournament.

    In October 2022, Indian cricket authorities said that they would not send a team to the 2023 Asia Cup in Pakistan, prompting Pakistan’s cricket authorities to hint they may pull out of the upcoming ICC World Cup, scheduled to be held in India later this year.
    Pakistan cricket officials also warned India that if they mess with them they will also going to mess with India and the move can split the international cricket community.
    The PCB said Shah’s comments could “impact Pakistan’s visit to India for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 and future ICC Events in India in the 2024-2031 cycle.”

    “I have always been saying, if India doesn’t want to come [to Pakistan], we don’t care. They can go to hell. We are playing cricket. It’s International Cricketing Council’s (ICC) job to control such things or there’s no point in having a governing body,” Miandad said.

    If a team don’t come, no matter how strong they are, ICC should remove them, Miandad said.

    “They should play, why aren’t they playing? They are afraid of consequences.”
    He added that India is scared of Pakistan. “Even in our time, they were scared to play cricket against Pakistan because Indian crowd is ‘nasty’. Whenever they lose, no matter they play well or not, Indian cricket fans burn their houses. So that’s why they are afraid of to play cricket against Pakistan.”
    Despite being considered one of cricket’s greatest rivalries, India and Pakistan have not met on home soil in any version of the game since 2012, and only play each other in international tournaments on neutral grounds.

    The ACC will make a final decision on the venue of Asia Cup 2023 in its Executive Board meeting next month.

    An emergency meeting of ACC was held in Bahrain on Saturday which was also attended by Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Management Committee Chairman Najam Sethi. Among other issues, the fate of the Asia Cup was also discussed but no decision was made.

  • ‘Surprise, disappointment’ PCB responds to India’s decision not to come to Pak

    ‘Surprise, disappointment’ PCB responds to India’s decision not to come to Pak

    Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has reacted to a statement made by Board of Cricket Control in India secretary Jay Shah regarding Asia Cup 2023.

    Jay Shah, who is also secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), had said that the Asia Cup 2023 which is to be hosted by Pakistan, will be shifted to a neutral venue.

    In response, PCB has issued the following statement:

    “The PCB has noted with surprise and disappointment yesterday’s comments made by the ACC President Mr Jay Shah with regards to shifting next year’s Asia Cup to a neutral venue. The comments were made without any discussion or consultation with the Board of the Asian Cricket Council or the Pakistan Cricket Board (event host) and without any thoughts towards their long-term consequences and implications.
    After having presided over the ACC meeting during which Pakistan was awarded the ACC Asia Cup with an overwhelming support and response from the ACC Board Members, Mr Shah’s statement of shifting of the ACC Asia Cup has clearly been made unilaterally. This is contrary to the philosophy and spirit for which the Asian Cricket Council was formed in September 1983 – a united Asian cricket body to safeguard the interests of its Members and organise, develop, and promote the game of cricket in Asia.
    The overall impact of such statements have the potential to split the Asian and international cricketing communities, and can impact Pakistan’s visit to India for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 and future ICC Events in India in the 2024-2031 cycle.
    The PCB has to date not received any official communication or clarification from the ACC on the statement of the ACC President. As such, the PCB has now requested the Asian Cricket Council to convene an emergency meeting of its Board as soon as practically possible to discuss this important and sensitive matter.”

  • Indian cricket team to visit Pakistan for Asia Cup 2023

    Indian cricket team to visit Pakistan for Asia Cup 2023

    The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has stated that the Indian cricket team will most likely visit Pakistan for the Asia Cup 2023.

    The Pakistan tour for the 2019 Asia Cup is on the BCCI’s agenda before its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on October 18, according to a report on an Indian website.

    According to the report, India was willing to fly to Pakistan to take part in the competition. A BCCI source told the publication, “However, India’s visit will be subject to the clearance of the government.”

    “There is always the possibility of staging the event in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as was done for this year’s Asia Cup, but the BCCI memo appears to indicate otherwise,” the report stated.

    Prior to the ICC Cricket World Cup in India, which is slated for October and November 2023, Pakistan will host the 50-over Asia Cup. In order to compete in the Asia Cup, India last travelled to Pakistan in 2008.

    On October 23, at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Pakistan will play India in the tournament’s opening matchup for the T20 World Cup 2022.