Asia Cup 2023: Tournament likely to be moved out of Pakistan as ACC rejects PCB's 'Hybrid Model'

In a major blow for Pakistan, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) on Monday opted to shift the Asia Cup 2023 outside of the country after the member countries rejected the Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) request to host the tournament on a "hybrid model." 

After this rejection, it would be to see if Pakistan enters the event, which is slated to take place from September 2–17.

READ | Is Asia Cup 2023 being shifted out of Pakistan? India gets support from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh

Sri Lanka has emerged as a front-runner to host the six-nation tournament since the highly humid circumstances in the UAE in September could cause player injury.

"Najam Sethi (PCB chairman) was in Dubai today to procure support but to his horror, there were no takers for his proposal of Pakistan playing its games in Karachi or Lahore and India playing in UAE. Sri Lanka was always with BCCI and now even Bangladesh Cricket Board seemed opposed to the idea," an ACC source told PTI.

"ACC has always maintained that in principle the 'hybrid model' is unacceptable and the budgetary sanctions can never be passed," the source said. 

"Also it's not about Pakistan hosting its own matches. It also means that if India and Pakistan are in the same group, the third team will be travelling to and fro between Dubai and a city in Pakistan," the source added.

The 'hybrid model' came into play after BCCI had refused to send the Indian team to the neighbouring nation due to diplomatic tensions between the two countries.

Earlier, Najam Sethi had said that if India does not come to Pakistan for the Asia Cup, the chances of Pakistan playing the ODI World Cup in India will be very low.

However, the ACC source said, "Even ICC won't agree to Pakistan playing its matches outside India (during World Cup). So let's see what PCB decides".