Asia Cup 2023: Najam Sethi Hits Out Again, Questions If India Is Afraid To Lose To Pakistan

Pallekele International Cricket Stadium: Najam Sethi, the ex-chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), once again hit out at the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) for their decision to not relocate the India-Pakistan Super-4 match from Colombo to Hambantota, despite unfavorable weather conditions.

According to the Asia Cup Super venues confirmed on Wednesday, five out of the six matches are set to take place in Colombo. As per the weather forecast, there will be rain in Colombo till September 20.

Taking to social media platform X and Sethi wrote: "BCCI/ACC informed Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) today that they had decided to shift the next India-Pak match from Colombo to Hambantota because of rain forecasts. Within one hour they changed their mind and announced Colombo as the venue. What’s going on? Is India afraid to play and lose to Pakistan? Look at the rain forecast."

More recently, the highly-anticipated India-Pakistan clash at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium was abandoned due to persistent rain on Saturday.

Sethi also shared images illustrating the contrasting weather conditions in the two cities, pointing out that Colombo has an 89% chance of rain on Sunday, while Hambantota has only a 12% chance.

Earlier, the ex-PCB chief accused the BCCI and ACC monopoly on scheduling the Asia Cup 2023 in Sri Lanka rather than the UAE knowing the rainy season in Sri Lanka. Sethi suggested that BCCI and ACC should schedule the tournament in UAE after BCCI decided not to travel to Pakistan for the tournament.

However, Jay Shah rejected the claims of Sethi and expressed, 'Player's health' as the primary reason for not scheduling the Asia Cup in UAE.

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--IANS