India, Pakistan will play only on neutral turf

Rohit Sharma & Co are all set to start their T20 World Cup campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 23 in Melbourne. But India won't play the same opponents on Pakistan soil next year.

BCCI secretary Jay Shah, who is also the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president, made it clear on Tuesday that the Indian team will not travel to Pakistan for the next Asia Cup which will be held in the neighbouring country in 2023.

Shah, who was addressing the media after BCCI's Annual General meeting at a five-star hotel in South Mumbai, also revealed that the next year's Asia Cup will be held at a neutral venue. "The Asia Cup 2023 will be held at a neutral venue. I'm saying this as ACC President. We [India] can't go there [to Pakistan], they can't come here. In the past also, the Asia Cup has been played at a neutral venue," Shah told reporters. As per the current schedule, Pakistan are supposed to conduct two major tournaments - 2023 Asia Cup and the Champions Trophy in 2025 while India host the ODI World Cup in 2023. Going by Shah's announcement, India and Pakistan will not play on each other's turf.

Will Pakistan feature in the ODI World Cup to be held in India next year remains a question. The last time India and Pakistan played against each other was during the Asia Cup in the UAE last August.

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No phones, please!

IT was just a formality to announce the new BCCI office-bearers as all were elected unopposed during the Board's 91st AGM at a five-star hotel in South Mumbai on Tuesday.

The new BCCI team members are; Roger Binny (president), Rajiv Shukla (vice-president), Jay Shah (secretary), Devajit Saikia (joint secretary), treasurer Ashish Shelar with Arun Singh Dhumal, the IPL governing council chairman.

All office bearers took questions from the media, but although the media persons were given note pads, they had to hand over their phones and dictaphones to the organisers to prevent any recording of the utterances.