"What's The Point of ICC?": Pakistan Great Javed Miandad Reacts To Jay Shah's Asia Cup Remark

Former Pakistan batter Javed Miandad has reacted to the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Jay Shah's remarks regarding shifting the 2023 Asia Cup to a neutral venue. Shah, who is also the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has said that Team India will not travel to Pakistan to take part in the Asia Cup next year, demanding to move the tournament to a neutral venue. Reacting to Shah's comments, Miandad said that one should keep politics away from cricket.

"What's the point of ICC? Scrap the Asia Cup if that's the case. We are in Asia. We will only benefit from playing each other. You shouldn't bring politics into cricket. I request everyone for the sake of players. This pick-and-choose policy is wrong, you should stop playing cricket otherwise," Miandad said during a discussion on Express News' show Josh Jaga Dey.

The entire chain of events started on Tuesday with Mr Jay Shah saying that India would not tour Pakistan next year for Asia Cup 2023 and the tournament would rather be played at a neutral venue.

The PCB then responded, by saying that the comments were unilateral and could "split" the international cricket community. It also said moving the Asia Cup out of Pakistan "could impact future events in India" like the World Cup.

On Thursday, The Union Minister For Youth Affairs and Sports, Mr Anurag Thakur said that the home ministry would decide on the cricket team's travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup.

"Possibilities are always there. Who thought there will be COVID-19? Anything can happen but the chances (of Indian team travelling to Pakistan) are not much. It's a decision that will be taken by the home ministry. Overall, players' safety and security is an important matter," said the minister, according to PTI.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Pakistan Cricket Team Javed Miandad Cricket