Najam Sethi launches another attack on ACC ahead of India vs Nepal Asia Cup game | Cricket
The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has come under heavy criticism after fans were denied a thrilling end to the much-anticipated match between India and Pakistan at the Pallekele International Stadium on Saturday as rain washed out the second innings, leaving the two teams to share a point. Former chief of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Najam Sethi, then exposed the ACC over the “poor excuses” made to avoid the scheduling of the tournament in the UAE. He later continued his attack on ACC with a five-word post ahead of the match between India and Nepal in Pallekele.
It was set to be a thriller of a contest and the likes of Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf had set the stage of it when they wrapped up the Indian top order early on before Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya revived the innings with their respective knocks of half-centuries. India were eventually folded for 266 runs in 48.5 overs.
Rain had interrupted twice during India’s innings but the delays were both for a shot duration. However, the interruption caused before the start of the second innings never stopped and match officials were forced to call off the game.
Moments later, Sethi took to X to reveal that during his tenure as the PCB chairman he had urged the ACC to consider UAE as the second venue after the committee accepted the Hybrid Model over BCCI’s stance to not send the Indian team to Pakistan, who were initially the sole hosts for the Asia Cup. Moreover, Sri Lanka do not tend to host matches during September as the Island witnesses monsoon during that period. But Sethi’s request was turned down with “poor excuses” of IPL.
“How disappointing! Rain mars the greatest contest in cricket. But this was forecast. As PCB Chair, I urged the ACC to play in UAE but poor excuses were made to accommodate Sri Lanka. Too hot in Dubai, they said. But it was as hot when the Asia Cup was played there last time in Sep 2022 or when IPL was played there in April 2014 and Sep 2020. Politics over sport. Unforgivable!” he had posted.
A day later, he took to the platform to take a dig at the ACC yet again amid reports saying that the committee is considering the option of shifting the venue for Super Four matches from Colombo to Pallekele. Sethi shared an image of the weather forecast for the next one week with the caption: “Cricket anyone? Grab an umbrella!”
Colombo’s R Premadasa Stadium is slated to host five of the six Super Four matches starting September 9. However with the capital city experiencing heavy rainfall in the last few days, ACC is likely to take a decision in the next day or two over whether they would want to take the risk of staging the matches in Colombo or shifting to Dambulla with rain forecast in Pallekele as well.
