Dhaka
\nPakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Mohsin Naqvi on Thursday hailed the positive environment in which the council\u2019s annual general meeting (AGM) was held and said the fate of the upcoming Asia Cup would be announced soon.
\nThe meeting, hosted by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), comes ahead of the Asia Cup tournament, scheduled to be hosted by India in September. The tournament remains in limbo amid strained India-Pakistan ties following a military encounter in May.
\nOn Wednesday, Hindustan Times reported that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), reversing an earlier decision, would attend the Asian Cricket Council\u2019s annual meeting virtually. The BCCI had previously declined to travel to Dhaka, citing tensions with Bangladesh and threatening to boycott the meeting.
\nThe AGM was held in Dhaka today with 24 other members in attendance.
\nAddressing the media after the meeting, Naqvi said: \u201cThe meeting went very well. We have 25 ACC members and all of them participated in this meeting\u201d
\nHe thanked all members who attended the meeting in person and those who attended it virtually. \u201cWe have all decided to work for cricket. None of us wants politics inside any of our organisations and it was a very good meeting in a very good atmosphere,\u201d he added, expressing hope that such meetings would continue in the future as well.
\nRegarding the upcoming Asia Cup\u2019s schedule and its fate, he said: \u201cThat will be announced soon. We are in consultation with the BCCI and we will resolve [that matter] very soon.\u201d
\nQuestioned about India\u2019s lack of participation in person, Naqvi downplayed the matter, saying: \u201cSeveral countries were not able to come to Dhaka. It happens every time whenever you have meetings. I was not able to go to Singapore because I was stuck so this is a normal thing.\u201d
\nHe said that all members participated in the meeting. He reiterated that he was hopeful of the ACC and BCCI resolving their pending issues \u201cand we will have the Asia Cup also\u201d.
\nA press release issued by the ACC said the meeting was with \u201c100 per cent\u201d attendance.
\nIt said the meeting approved the comprehensive tournament calendar for 2025\u20132026, in line with the ACC\u2019s sustained commitment to delivering structured development and high-quality cricketing opportunities across its member countries.
\nIt also announced the inclusion of cricket in the upcoming Asian Games 2026 to be held in Japan, which would see the participation of 10 men\u2019s and eight)women\u2019s teams from across the continent, to be chosen based on their rankings.
\nThe organisation also welcomed three new nations, Mongolia, Uzbekistan and the Philippines, as members, \u201cextending the reach of the sport into new and emerging cricket regions\u201d.
\nThe council and members also reaffirmed their support for the development and promotion of Asian cricket \u201cwhilst always putting cricket first\u201d.
\nThe meeting was adjourned with members \u201creiterating their joint commitment to a forward-looking vision; one that nurtures excellence, inclusion and broadens the game\u2019s reach across the continent\u201d.
\nNaqvi calls on Asian nations to \u2018put aside political differences\u2019 for sake of cricket
\nAddressing a reception hosted by the BCB earlier, Naqvi said in an apparent reference to the ongoing situation: \u201cIt\u2019s not just that you\u2019re here; it\u2019s about a team, as we discussed, that we need to work as a team. We need to put aside all our political differences and work just for cricket.\u201d
\nThe PCB chairman added: \u201cIt is a family of cricketing nations, where we all need to support and strengthen each other. The most important thing is, whoever wins means we all will win; so, let\u2019s get together and discuss how we can strengthen the ACC and how we can help our associate members.\u201d
\nHe stressed that he wanted all member teams to have stronger players to put up a stronger competition, paving the way for a stronger market for cricketing events in Asia.
\n\u201cAs the president of ACC, I can assure you that we will do whatever is required to make this body the strongest body for Asian games,\u201d he said, adding that it was important to expand cricket in other countries.
\nWhether Pakistan visit India for the Asia Cup or a hybrid model will be followed \u2014 similar to the one adopted for the International Cricket Council events \u2014 is yet to be decided.
\nHowever, considering that the BCCI and the PCB are not keen on playing on each other\u2019s venues, particularly after the 2024 hybrid model, the UAE has emerged as a frontrunner to host the latest edition of the Asia Cup.
\nLast night, the BCB also hosted a dinner for ACC delegations and the Pakistani team. The PCB chairman thanked the associate members of the council and BCB President Aminul Islam for his hospitality during his speech at the meeting.
\n\u201cHe worked day and night to make this happen,\u201d Naqvi said. \u201cI am really looking forward to receiving him in Pakistan.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dhaka Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Mohsin Naqvi on Thursday hailed the positive environment in which the council\u2019s annual general meeting (AGM) was held and said the fate of the upcoming Asia Cup would be announced soon. The meeting, hosted by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), comes ahead of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":84214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84213"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84215,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84213\/revisions\/84215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}