Long-term broadcast deal will be in jeopardy if India doesn't play Pak in Asia Cup: Source

A longterm lucrative media rights deal between the Asian Cricket Council ACC and the broadcaster could be in jeopardy if a solution is not found quickly to break the deadlock between India and Pakistan on the issue of hosting of the Asia CupThe Asia Cup has been allotted to Pakistan but due to the prevailing political tensions between the neighbours BCCI has said India will not send its team for the tournament in September and would rather want the continental event be moved to the UAE or Sri LankaHowever the Pakistan Cricket Board PCB has so far not agreed to the demand leading to a stalemateIn the event of India withdrawing from the Asia Cup in Pakistan the tournament will lose its sheen and the broadcaster could incur heavy losses with no riveting IndiaPakistan clashesAlso Read Even ICC wont be able to do anything in front of BCCI Afridi on Asia CupA source said that under the longterm agreement between the ACC and the broadcaster it is mandatory that Pakistan and India play each other at least twice or thrice in the regional multiteam eventIt is not possible to have the Asia Cup without Pakistan and India matches This is the understanding on which the agreement is based the source saidHe said the broadcasters have been guaranteed that the archrivals will play at least twice before the final as it happened during the Asia Cup in 2022 in the UAEWithout Pakistan and India matches the broadcasting agreement goes awry he warnedThe source added that during the last ACC executive board meeting the Pakistan Cricket Board PCB chief Najam Sethi had made it clear that Pakistan wants to host the tournament and they were willing to give all security guarantees to the participating teams including IndiaSethi has not said that the PCB could consider being hosts and split the matches between venues in Pakistan and UAE to allow India to play in UAE the source saidThere have been suggestions that while other participating countries can play in Pakistan the bigticket IndiaPakistan clash could be moved to the UAE And if India and Pakistan make it to the final the summit clash should be held in the UAEThis is not an option right now for Pakistan unless something changes at the next ACC board meeting on the sidelines of the ICC meeting in March the source addedA worstcase scenario could be a titfortat reaction where if India does not send its team to Pakistan the PCB could consider the option of not playing in the Asia Cup or not travelling to India for the World Cup later this yearA PCB official said there is a force de majeure clause in the Asia Cup participating nations agreement which allows for the shifting of the tournament but that is dependent on the host countryIn 2018 India moved the Asia Cup to the UAE because of elections in their country and not because Pakistan said it wouldnt go to India for the event So what happened in 2018 does not apply in the present scenario the source saidWith the 50over World Cup scheduled in OctoberNovember this year the significance of the Asia Cup has increased as all the participating continental teams in the ICC event would be keen to have the Asia Cup before the mega competitionLet us see what India brings to the table at the next meeting and we will take it from there another board official saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever