LAHORE: Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Jay Shah, who is also the Indian board's secretary, has made the Asia Cup 2023 a laughing stock as he again changed the venue to Colombo within hours after agreeing to shift the matches to another city, sources told Geo News on Tuesday.

In a sudden change of events, the ACC on Tuesday sent an email to its members that matches which were earlier shifted to Hambantota will now be played in Colombo, sparking a strong reaction from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), the sources added.

"The PCB has expressed strong reservations on the matter," they said, adding that the board has demanded an emergency meeting of the ACC to take a consensus decision in this regard.

The Pakistan cricket authorities have also refused to accept this unilateral decision taken by a regional cricket body headed by Jay Shah.

Regarding back-to-back changes in venues, the administrators are in a fix as they have logistic arrangements to move to Hambantota but now they are told that the venue would remain unchanged.

Moreover, the players are also confused due to uncertain situations over venues.

It is important to note that due to Jay Shah’s stubbornness, the ongoing Asia Cup 2023 has been engulfed in controversies for a long and nine out of 13 matches were scheduled in Sri Lanka after India refused to send its team to Pakistan.

And now, after two of the matches of the tournament were interrupted with the Pakistan vs India blockbuster being washed out, the PCB again suggested staging the remainder of the tournament in Pakistan.

Published in The Daily National Courier, September, 06 2023

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