The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) on Friday, January 6 refuted Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi’s claims that the continental governing body chief Jay Shah “unilaterally” announced the cricket calendar for 2023 and 2024 without consulting with the stakeholders in Pakistan.
ACC president Jay Shah took to social media on Thursday to announce the cricket calendar of matches which would be organised by the continental body. The ACC also confirmed that the Asia Cup would be held in September 2023 despite the stand-off over the venue for the 50-over tournament.
PCB chairman Najam Sethi had taken a dig at ACC chief Jay Shah with a cheeky tweet later on Thursday, urging the Indian cricket board IBCCI) secretary to also announce the schedule of Pakistan’s domestic T20 league – Pakistan Super League (PSL).
The ACC, in a statement, called Najam Sethi’s claims baseless and that the Pakistan Cricket Board was also communicated about the calendar of Asian cricket in an email in December.
“It has come to our knowledge that PCB Chairman Mr. Najam Sethi has made a comment on the ACC President unilaterally taking the decision on finalising the calendar and announcing the same. The ACC wants to clarify that it has followed established due process. The calendar was approved by its Development Committee and Finance & Marketing Committee in a meeting held on December 13th, 2022,” the ACC said.
“The calendar was then communicated to all the participating members individually, including the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), via an email dated December 22nd, 2022. While responses were received from certain Member Boards, no comments or suggested modifications were received from PCB.
“In view of the above, Mr. Sethi’s comments on a social media platform are baseless and are vehemently denied by the ACC,” he added.
