The Asian Cricket Council, led by Jay Shah, had plans to move six important matches to Hambantota because the weather in Colombo looked bad. But then they changed their mind, and this made the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) unhappy.
The PCB is worried because bad weather in Colombo could mess up the games. There was even flooding near the stadium where the matches are supposed to happen. This could affect the big match between Pakistan and India on September 10.
PCB is also upset because they feel like they didn’t have a say in the decision, even though they are hosting the event.
Things got even worse when a game between Pakistan and India got rained out on Saturday. People started to question if it was a good idea to have the tournament during the rainy season in Sri Lanka.
Ashley de Silva, the CEO of Sri Lanka Cricket, said that the matches will still happen in Colombo as planned. He said talks about moving the games were just talks, nothing was confirmed.
However, reports say that all the cricket boards had agreed to move the matches, but couldn’t do it because of some planning issues.
Najam Sethi, a former big shot in PCB, said on social media that he’s not happy about where the matches are happening. He mentioned that bad weather is already causing problems. He thinks the matches should happen in the UAE, not Sri Lanka.
I pleaded for three approvals in various meetings with Jay Shah and ACC colleagues:
Play all matches in Pakistan as international cricket had fully returned to Pakistan.
When this was shot down
I proposed that we play five matches in Pakistan and eight in the UAE.
This also they…— Najam Sethi (@najamsethi) September 4, 2023
