Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is reportedly close to finalising venues for the 2023 Asia Cup with one stadium in Pakistan set to hold all the local contests.
According to media reports, PCB is likely to name Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore as the only local venue which will hold the Asia Cup ties set to take place in Pakistan as part of the hybrid model.
Dubai International Stadium is likely to be named the second venue as PCB is confident of selling more tickets there as compared to Sharjah or Abu Dhabi.
Lahore has been PCB’s preferred option for hosting both international and local fixtures given the country’s cricketing board is situated there. Recently the stadium hosted the final matches of New Zealand’s tour after already hosting the PSL final for a second-straight year.
Only four matches will take place in Lahore before the action shifts to Dubai under the current proposed model. To ease teams’ concerns about the heat in Dubai, PCB is mulling changing the start time of matches to 4:30 PM to alleviate concerns about player safety.
India’s BCCI is not expected to raise objections over the 2023 Asia Cup venues given the fact that it will not be sending a team to Pakistan anyways.
The 2023 Asia Cup is scheduled to take place in September with Pakistan, India, Nepal, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh taking part in the tournament.
