The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has rejected Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi’s claim that ACC president and BCCI secretary Jay Shah had “unilaterally” announced the calendar of events for 2023 and 2024.
On Friday, the ACC put out a statement saying the PCB had been informed about these details via email on December 22, 2022, but no response had been received.
“It has come to our knowledge that PCB chairman Mr Najam Sethi has made a comment on the ACC president unilaterally taking the decision on finalising the calendar and announcing the same,” the ACC said in a statement. “The ACC wants to clarify that it has followed established due process. The calendar was approved by its Development Committee and Finance & Marketing Committee in a meeting held on December 13th, 2022.
“It has come to our knowledge that PCB chairman Mr Najam Sethi has made a comment on the ACC president unilaterally taking the decision on finalising the calendar and announcing the same,” the ACC said in a statement.
“The ACC wants to clarify that it has followed established due process. The calendar was approved by its Development Committee and Finance & Marketing Committee in a meeting held on December 13th, 2022.
Sethi took a dig at Shah on Thursday through a tweet which read: “Thank you @ JayShah for unilaterally presenting @ACCMedia1 structure & calendars 2023-24 especially relating to Asia Cup 2023 for which (Pakistan) is the event host. While you are at it, you might as well present structure & calendar of our PSL 2023! A swift response will be appreciated (sic).”
The Asia Cup, which has been a subject of rancour between the BCCI and PCB, is scheduled for September. Shah had said after the BCCI annual general meeting in October that India would not travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup and the tournament would be held at a neutral venue.
The PCB had then come out strongly against Shah’s statement saying the decision was made “unilaterally” and raised the prospect of an “impact” on Pakistan’s participation in the 2023 World Cup as well as ICC events in India in the 2024-2031 cycle. The 2025 Champions Trophy is also scheduled to be held in Pakistan.
It was learnt that the ACC’s Development Committee and Finance & Marketing Committee do not contain any representation from Pakistan. Sethi had replaced Ramiz Raja as chairman on the day the mail was sent to the PCB.
