Pakistan Cricket Board not in favour of having Asia Cup this year, says report

Karachi: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ehsan Mani has conveyed to the PSL franchise owners that the game’s governing body in the country is not in favour of having the Asia Cup T20 event this year. A PCB source said this was conveyed by Mani to the Pakistan Super League franchise owners during a virtual meeting on Thursday, after it was announced that the remaining matches of PSL 6 would be completed in June. Mani spoke about the Asia Cup after the franchise owners sought to know if the dates of PSL were clashing with the continental tournament. “Mani made it clear that their was little possibility of the tournament being held this year and it would be moved to 2023 due to the commitments of the participating teams,” the source said. The PCB chairman told the franchise owners the new dates for the Asia Cup would be decided at the next meeting of the Asian Cricket Council. The PSL 6 was postponed after 14 of the 34 matches in the league were completed earlier this month in Karachi due to an outbreak of COVID-19 cases among the franchise players and officials. The source said one or two franchise owners had also insisted that event be held in April and the PCB should pressurise Cricket South Africa (CSA) to reschedule Pakistan team’s tour to the country in April. “But the PCB chairman made it clear they could not do this as they had good relations with CSA which had supported Pakistan cricket by sending its full test team to Pakistan in February.”