Asian Cricket Council rejects PCB chief’s allegations against Jay Shah and calls Sethi’s comments baseless

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Image source: TWITTER, GETTY Jay Shah, Najam Sethi

The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) on Friday dismissed allegations made by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Najam Sethi and called his comments baseless. Sethi had taken a dig at Jay Shah when it came to announcing the schedule for the continental body’s two-year program.

The ACC said the PCB received the itinerary on December 22, 2022 along with other member countries, but no communication came from the latter side.

On Thursday, Shah announced the 2023-2024 ACC calendar and lane structure for the continental body as well as the ODI Asian Cup scheduled for September. However, the schedule did not have the name of the host country as BCCI Secretary Shah had already said last October (2022) that the tournament would be moved out of Pakistan as India will not be able to travel.

“Thank you Jay Shah for unilaterally presenting the structure and schedules of the ACC 2023-24, especially regarding the 2023 Asian Cup for which Pakistan is hosting the event. While you are at it, might as well present the structure and schedule of our 2023 PSL! a quick response will be appreciated,” Sethi tweeted.

The Shah-led ACC on the same day issued a statement in strong terms denouncing the PCB Chairman’s bluff.

“It has come to our knowledge that PCB Chairman Najam Sethi has made a comment about the ACC Chairman (Shah) unilaterally taking the decision to finalize the schedule and announcing it. The ACC would like to clarify that he followed due process.” ACC said in its statement.

In fact, the statement also shared the timeline with the media, which effectively means the PCB chairman was lying.

“The schedule was approved by its Development Committee and Finance and Marketing Committee at a meeting held on December 13, 2022. The schedule was then communicated to all participating members individually including the Pakistan Cricket Board ( PCB), via email dated December 22, 2022,” he added.

The PAC over the past two weeks has not requested any changes to the proposed schedule and so there has been a public announcement.

“While responses have been received from some Member Boards, no comments or suggestions for changes have been received from the PCB. In view of the above, Sethi’s comments on a social media platform are without merit and are vehemently denied by the ACC,” the statement concluded.

While the Asian Cup is a multi-nation event, the ACC board’s decision to award the hosting rights to Pakistan has not gone down well with the BCCI. In the case of BCCI, the decision to send a cricket team to Pakistan will be entirely the prerogative of the central government.

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