The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday termed as “speculative and fictitious” reports claiming that it has decided to pull out of the men’s Asia Cup and women’s Emerging Teams Asia Cup. A media report citing sources said the BCCI will not allow Indian teams to compete in the two Asian Cricket Council (ACC) events at a time when the cricket body is headed by a Pakistani and just days after a military conflict broke out between the two neighbouring countries.
Pakistan’s Home Minister Mohsin Naqvi is also the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board and also holds the post of President of the ACC. Defending champions India will host the men’s Asia Cup to be played in T20 format in September while Sri Lanka has been allotted the Women’s Emerging Teams Asia Cup.
BCCI secretary Devjit Saikia said, ‘Since this morning, we have come across some news that BCCI has decided not to participate in Asia Cup and Women’s Emerging Team Asia Cup. Both of these are ACC competitions. There is no truth in such news because till now BCCI has not held any discussion or taken any step regarding the upcoming ACC competitions, let alone writing anything to ACC.’
Sakia said the BCCI is focused on ensuring the smooth conduct of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the five-match Test series against England starting next month. He said, ‘At the moment our focus is on the ongoing IPL and the subsequent series in England, which includes both men’s and women’s series.
The issue related to Asia Cup or any other ACC event has not come up for discussion at any level and hence any news or report on this is completely speculative and imaginary. ‘It can be said that whenever BCCI discusses any ACC event and any important decision is taken, it will be announced through the media,’ Sakia said.