'Good news is that we...' - Najam Sethi reveals on meeting Indian cricket board in ACC meeting over Asia Cup 2023 dispute

Pakistan are the hosts of the upcoming Asia Cup 2023 and the president of the Asian Cricket Council and the secretary of the Indian cricket board, Jay Shah announced earlier that the venue would be shifted from Pakistan to a neutral venue. For the unversed, India and the Men in Green stopped playing bilaterals a decade ago due to the ongoing political rift between the two countries. 

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Ever since Shah made the announcement, the former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ramiz Raja claimed that it was unfair of the president of the ACC to make such a blatant announcement without PCB’s concern on the matter. However, Najam Sethi, who took over as the chief of the PCB in late December, claimed that they would like to solve the issue amicably without cornering the nation. 

Amid all the chaos, Sethi opened up on the possible ACC meeting and said that it would take place next month, claiming that he and his team were able to convince the opponents about the meeting. Further, the chief of the PCB claimed that the case is with Pakistan if looked at with a microscope, although it favours India if looked at with a telescope. 

Our decision will be in the interests of Pakistan: Najam Sethi

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Further, Sethi claimed that the decision would always be in favour of Pakistan, irrespective of what the outcome is. The PCB boss said that the Indian cricket board cited governmental reasons for not obliging to make it to Pakistan for the upcoming continental tournament. 

“For some time there hasn't been any ACC Board meeting and there were a lot of decisions being made and one of them we have challenged. Now the good news is that we managed to convince them to have their Board meeting and I will be attending it,” Sethi was quoted as saying. 

“We have to look at what we can do but we can't another case, but I can say that that case wasn't handled properly and I think we didn't give a good fight. But eventually, even judges said that if you look through the microscope this case is in favour of Pakistan but if you see this case with a telescope this is going in India's favour. So in nutshell, with all the nitty-gritty it's Pakistan's case, but then their stance was that it's the government which isn't allowing us ” he added. 

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“All expected discussions and what the possible options are, I am keeping close to my chest for now. I don't want to hint at anything about what will be my possible stance there. Whatever the stance is, it will be according to the interests of Pakistan,” said the PCB chief further.