Images of the jerseys of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh went viral with fans expressing their dismay over the missing name of the host nation.
The Asia Cup 2023 landed in a controversy after host Pakistan‘s name was missing from the participating team’s jerseys. The tournament began with Pakistan taking on Nepal in Multan on August 30. While Pakistan registered a thumping win over the minnows, former cricketers and fans were quick to spot the Asia Cup logo on the right side of the team jerseys. It only had Asia Cup’s logo and not the name of the host country. The same thing was noticed in the Group B match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Their jerseys too had the host nation’s name missing.
Images of the jerseys of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh went viral with fans expressing their dismay. Some even pointed out that Sri Lanka’s name was mentioned below the Asia Cup’s logo in the last edition despite the tournament being played in UAE as the former were the original hosts.
In this year, Pakistan are the official host despite the tournament being played in a hybrid model – Sri Lanka is the other host – after India’s reservations about travelling to Pakistan.
Former Pakistan cricketers like Rashid Latif, Mohsin Khan and others slammed PCB and Asia Cricket Council (ACC) for not pressing for a change in the team jerseys. Latif called the situation “unacceptable”.
“This is unacceptable and it is the Asian Cricket Council which must explain this oversight since the Asia Cup is their property,” he said.
PCB issues clarification after being slammed by ex-Pakistan cricketers
PCB, for its part, has tried to play down the situation by revealing that the ACC had decided after last year’s Asia Cup that the host country’s name would not be used with the Asia Cup logo in future events, but former Pakistan players and fans were having none of it.
Some have even questioned that even if the ACC had taken such a decision, why did the PCB agree to it since Pakistan was hosting a multi-team event after 15 years.
“Makes no sense at all. Then why has the ACC given the host country’s name on the logos for their Asian Emerging Nations Cup or their Asian Under-16 event held in July in Malaysia,” former Test batsman Mohsin Khan questioned.
Mohsin Khan said the ACC should clear up the confusion.
Another former player who didn’t want to be named believes that Jay Shah, the President of the ACC and secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), was the reason for Pakistan not being acknowledged as the host nation on the official logo.
“Given the current scenario between the two countries, perhaps the BCCI official felt it would be embarrassing for the Indian team players to wear kits with the name of Pakistan on the official Asia Cup logo,” he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Rashid Latif didn’t rule out this possibility and said what had happened was embarrassing and needed to be clarified.