Asia Cup 2025: India's participation in doubt after deadlock with Pakistan regarding ACC's AGM venue

A day after the India-Pakistan game in the World Championship of Legends tournament got cancelled due to political reasons, the arch-rivals are busy with more action off the cricket field.

 

According to the latest update, the stand-off between the neighbours is regarding the venue of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), currently scheduled to be held in Dhaka. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had vehemently denied the city as a venue option, considering the strained relations between India and Bangladesh. In fact, the two teams were scheduled for six white-ball games in Bangladesh next month, only for the BCCI to indefinitely postpone the tour on political grounds.

 

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) boss Aminul Islam still hopes that the tour will happen, even if at a much later date. For now, though, he is in the firing line for the venue topic. Despite being aware of BCCI's disapproval on Dhaka as the venue for ACC's AGM, Islam had agreed to the request of PCB boss Mohsin Naqvi who also happens to be the chairman of ACC.

 

If Dhaka remains as the venue of the meeting, the BCCI is likely to boycott it, which also puts doubts on India's participation in the 2025 Asia Cup. As things stand, there is a voting process expected among the five Test-playing nations of the ACC - India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. Currently, India seems to have the backing of Sri Lanka and Afghanistan while Pakistan and Bangladesh are bunched together on this topic.

 

While the BCCI is rigid in their stance regarding Dhaka, so is Naqvi who seems determined to organize the ACC AGM in the capital city of Bangladesh. The India-Pakistan rivalry snowballing into a butterfly effect is nothing new but in cricket, this hasn't been the case with BCCI often running the show, directly or indirectly. However, with the PCB also having control on ACC's fortunes this time around, this battle has a different colour to it.

 

While India have threatened to boycott the AGM and the Asia Cup if the meeting happens in Dhaka, the PCB's stance is on the other side of the coin. If the venue is shifted as per BCCI's desires, it will be Pakistan's turn to boycott the AGM and with it, the Asia Cup tournament of which India are the hosts.

 

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