'Hybrid model can be used as a compromise': PCB chief on Asia Cup, 2023 World Cup matches

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi said on Thursday that the cricket board ready for a "compromise situation" and the option of hybrid model can be explored for Asia Cup, which is slated to be held in August-September.

Najam Sethi said Pakistan never wanted an "all or nothing" approach, adding that it would host India at neutral venues during Asia Cup, which will be held before the 2023 ODI World Cup.

Pakistan have the hosting rights for the Asia Cup but the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah had said last year that the Indian cricket team would not travel to Pakistan for Asia Cup, citing a lack of permission from the Indian government due to ongoing tensions between the countries.

Najam Sethi, speaking to India Today, said the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) members, including India and Pakistan, discussed the possibility of a hybrid model when the continental body met earlier this year in Bahrain.

Amid reports emerging of the much-awaited India-Pakistan World Cup match happening in India, Sethi said if India are agreeing to play the Asia Cup matches at a neutral venue, the same can be done during the ODI World Cup.

"If India are ready to play in Pakistan, there is no problem at all, then we will also go to India to play the World Cup. If that's not possible, then the hybrid model can be used as a compromise," he added.

Meanwhile, PTI reported on Thursday that PCB is now trying to convince the Asian Cricket Council to allocate just four first round games of Asia Cup in Pakistan or else they would have no option but to pull-out of the continental body.

Sethi's 'Hybrid Model' of Pakistan playing its home games apart from India encounter, in their own country, has been rejected by other member nations. PCB, in turn, has rejected the idea of hosting Asia Cup games in Sri Lanka.

''Yes, Najam Sethi as part of the plan B of the hybrid model proposed by us for the Asia Cup has informed the ACC this week in Dubai that PCB would be satisfied hosting four games at home,'' PTI quoted a reliable source.

He said Sethi had also conveyed to the ACC in Dubai that if even this plan B of the PCB was rejected by ACC members then Pakistan would neither play in the Asia Cup and also withdraw from the Asian Cricket Council.

Sethi, according to the source, has proposed a Pakistan versus Nepal match and Afghanistan versus Bangladesh, Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka v Bangladesh matches in Pakistan.

The source also added that Sethi had told the ACC officials that PCB would be happy playing most of its remaining matches in Dubai and the tournament's majority games can be held in Dubai including the final.

''The one challenge now facing the ACC and us as hosts is that Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India are insisting the event shouldn't be held in UAE in September as the weather is very hot,'' the source said.

''In the recent past, BCCI has organised the entire (half) of IPL in UAE between September and November (in 2021) while the last two Asia Cups have also been held in UAE during the same period,'' the PCB source reminded.