Asian Cricket Council (ACC) have denied claims made by acting PCB head Najam Sethi of making unilateral decisions as the row between PCB and BCCI has erupted once again.
In a tweet which carried sarcastic connotations, the head of PCB’s management committee called out ACC president Jay Shah for announcing the Asian cricketing calendar, seemingly without any input from Pakistan.
“Thank you Jay Shah for unilaterally presenting ACC structure & calendars 2023-24 especially relating to Asia Cup 2023 for which Pakistan is the event host. While you are at it, you might as well present structure & calendar of our PSL 2023! A swift response will be appreciated.” Sethi wrote.
ACC has now issued a statement to contradict Sethi’s claims.
“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 statement said.
“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 calendar was then communicated to all the participating members individually, including 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.”
The tensions between the boards and everyone involved stem from India’s refusal to travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup 2023 a verdict which Jay Shah, who holds a prominent position in the Indian Cricket Board, delivered himself.
Najam Sethi was seemingly leaning towards a more democratic solution to the problem in a goodwill gesture towards BCCI but it remains to be seen how PCB will respond now that ACC has joined the fray.
