LAHORE: Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Jay Shah has unilaterally changed the match venue back to Colombo despite concerns over inclement weather.
The ACC president had agreed to change the match venue to Hambantota following reservations raised by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) due to the weather forecast.
However, in an unexpected turn of events, Jay Shah backtracked on the agreed venue change, shifting the match back to Colombo. This suggests that the Super 4 matches will be played in the Sri Lankan capital despite the weather forecast of thundershowers for the next 15 days.
The PCB lodged a strong protest after Jay Shah rejected an email to change the match venue from the Sri Lankan.
The Pakistan cricket authorities have also refused to accept this unilateral decision taken by Jay Shah, who is also the Secretary of BCCI.
The PCB has called for an emergency meeting of the ACC to develop a consensus and address the confusion created due to back-and-forth decisions,
Regarding back-to-back changes in venues, the administrators are in a fix over logistic arrangements to move to Hambantota. The players are also confused due to uncertain situations over venues.
Due to the ACC president’s stubbornness, the ongoing Asia Cup 2023 has been engulfed in controversies for a long and nine out of 13 matches were scheduled in Sri Lanka after India refused to send its team to Pakistan.
Two matches of the tournament have already been interrupted with the Pakistan vs India blockbuster being washed out. The PCB again suggested staging the remainder of the tournament in Pakistan.
