The Asian Cricket Council has confirmed that the Asia Cup 2012 will go ahead as scheduled, from March 12 to 22 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, all but ruling out the possibility of Pakistan touring India as outlined
in the Future Tours Programme. The decision was taken at the ACC's
meeting in Singapore earlier this week; it also endorsed, pending a
fuller discussion and satisfaction with security and other issues, a
proposal by Pakistan to host the 2014 tournament.
"It was agreed that the Asia Cup 2012 would go ahead on the proposed
dates," Subhan Ahmed, the PCB chief operating officer, told
ESPNcricinfo. "There was discussion of the ACC postponing the Asia Cup
if both India and Pakistan agreed to play their series within that slot
but that idea has faded out for many reasons."
The PCB was hoping at the meeting to get some confirmation from the BCCI
on the resumption of bilateral series between India and Pakistan but
Ahmed said that the BCCI representative, Ratnakar Shetty, was unable to
give any assurance in the absence of N Srinivasan, the president of the
Indian board.
"Pakistan-India series was not on the agenda at the ACC meeting but we
were looking forward to Srinivasan coming across to discuss it," Ahmed
said. "We had an ideal platform here to talk with our India counterpart
but he [Srinivasan] didn't attend the meeting.
"He [Shetty] was not in a position to talk on it. So I don't think India
and Pakistan could play each other in a full series next year but they
will meet in the Asia Cup."
Zaka Ashraf, the PCB chairman, was also in Singapore. He was due to
travel to Chennai in the first week of December to talk to Srinavasan on
the mutual cricketing interests of both countries but the sudden
illness of Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari, also the PCB's chief
patron, forced him to postpone of the visit.
At the ACC meeting, Pakistan also proposed hosting the 2014 Asia Cup.
Ahmed said that the other ACC members showed their support and
understood how essential the hosting of the event was for the country
but asked the PCB to satisfy them on security concerns. "Our request has
been endorsed and was not turned down. They want a full discussion on
the precautionary steps that the PCB will take to ensure security. We
obviously assured them the best and the case has been deferred until
next meeting."
Umar Farooq is ESPNcricinfo's Pakistan correspondent
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