Jay Shah defends Asia Cup scheduling: 'Teams expressed concerns about UAE heat'

Days after coming under severe criticism for scheduling Asia Cup 2023 matches to Sri Lanka amid heavy downpour Asian Cricket Council ACC president Jay Shah on Tuesday attributed the bodys decision to host matches in Pallekele on teams reluctance to play ODIs in the UAE heat and abrupt changes at the top of Pakistan Cricket Board PCBShah defended the move after former PCB president Najam Sethis recent comments in which he mentioned that during his tenure he had suggested that the 2023 Asia Cup be staged in the UAE instead of Sri Lanka parts of which are experiencing heavy rainfallIn a statement Shah said The Asia Cup 2022 edition was played in the UAE in the T20 format Its important to emphasize that the dynamics of a T20 tournament cannot be directly compared to those of a 100over Oneday formatIn this context ACC members received feedback from their respective highperformance teams expressing concerns about playing Oneday matches in the UAE in the month of September Such a schedule could have potentially led to player fatigue and an increased risk of injuries particularly right before the allimportant ICC Cricket World CupThe ACC has come under criticism after fans were denied what could have been a thrilling finish to the highlyanticipated match between India and Pakistan at Pallekele on Saturday Incessant rain led to a washout of the second innings leaving the two teams to share a point eachAll the full members media rights holder and instadia rights holders were initially hesitant to commit to hosting the entire tournament in Pakistan This reluctance stemmed from concerns related to the security and economic situation prevailing in the country Shah said furtherIn my capacity as ACC President I was committed to finding a viable and mutually agreeable solution To this end I had accepted the hybrid model that was proposed by the Pakistan Cricket Board PCB in collaboration with the ACC managementHowever its important to note that the leadership of the PCB underwent several changes and this resulted in some backandforth negotiations particularly regarding crucial aspects such as tax exemption and insurance for matches Shah addedAlso ReadRain wins the day at PallekeleBesides Sethi former India cricketer Virender Sehwag also appeared to take a dig at the ACC for the scheduling of the tournamentIn X formerly Twitter he had written Baarish ke time toh Chai Pakode rakhte hain yaar Asia cup bhi rakh diya We have tea and snacks when it rains Asia Cup has also been scheduledRain had interrupted the proceedings of the muchanticipated Asia Cup clash thrice on Saturday evening after India opted to bat first eventually leading to an abandonmentThe next day Sethi slammed the scheduling saying his suggestion to play in the UAE was turned down and poor excuses were made to accommodate Sri LankaToo hot in Dubai they said But it was as hot when the Asia Cup was played there last time in Sep 2022 or when IPL was played there in April 2014 and Sep 2020 Politics over sport Unforgivable Sethi had tweeted thenMeanwhile it has been learnt that the ACC decided to keep the Asia Cup Super 4 and final matches in Colombo itself as the weather here has shown signs of improvementIt has been speculated over the last few days that the Super 4 and final games of the tournament could be shifted to Hambantota after heavy rains lashed the Lankan capitalSri Lanka was added as cohosts alongside original tournament hosts Pakistan under a hybrid model after India refused to play their matches across their western border owing to geopolitical tension between the two countriesUnder the hybrid model four games were scheduled in Pakistan and the rest in Sri LankaWith PTI inputs