Asia Cup likely to be postponed if India reach WTC final: PCB chief

Cricket Desk: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ehsan Mani on Sunday said that the Asia Cup 2021 is likely to be postponed till 2023 if India manages to qualify for the final of the ongoing ICC World Test Championship (WTC). Asia Cup 2021 was scheduled to happen in the month of June this year but the dates of the tournament will clash with the World Test Championship final which will be held in the same month.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, the PCB CEO addressed queries on a number of topics including the Asia Cup 2021. Mani said the multi-nation tournament can be postponed till 2023 due to the WTC final. India, who are currently playing England in a four-match Test series, need to win or draw their final fourth Test to book a spot in the final against New Zealand.

“We swapped the 2020 Asia Cup, which was supposed to be held in Sri Lanka, to 2021 in June because of the pandemic situation last year. However, it’s going to clash with the World Test Championship and hence it will now be held in 2023,” Mani said.

T20 World Cup 2021 can be shifted to UAE: Ehsan Mani 

Mani also made some bold claims at the press conference and asserted that the T20 World Cup which is scheduled to take place in India this year can be shifted to UAE if the BCCI fails to assure PCB of visas for Pakistan players, support staff, and other members for the showpiece event.

Mani said ICC has already decided that the T20 World Cup will be shifted to the UAE in case of visa issues. The PCB chairman also claimed that apart from the issues regarding the Pakistan team's visas, the Indian board is also dealing with problems such as tax exemption for the World Cup.

It remains to be seen how BCCI will respond to these fresh claims by the PCB chairman, who had previously too stated that the Asia Cup, which was postponed last year, will not be moved out of Pakistan before BCCI confirmed that the Indian team will boycott the tournament if it is staged in Pakistan and not at a neutral venue.