Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary has said that Pakistan will have to make its own call in deciding whether to participate in the Asia Cup.
The Asia Cup is scheduled to take place in India in September this year but there have been doubts regarding the participation of Pakistan in the continental event.
Chaudhary told ANI reporters this week that the Asia Cup was a part of the ICC Future Tours Programme (FTP) and as such, the options for Pakistan remain limited.
“Asia Cup is a part of the FTP. Irrespective of the names of the teams, the tournament has already factored in. There is nothing about it. That (participation) is a question that Pakistan has to decide. In 2015, in the World T20 in India, Pakistan participated,” Chaudhary stated.
Cricketing ties between the two countries remain thawed due to the geo-political turmoil. All cricketing action between the two arch-rivals and neighbours currently remains restricted to ICC multi-team events.
Cricketing ties between the two remain confined to ICC events.
With the government of India not having given any clarity on whether Pakistan players would be granted visas for the Asia Cup, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi had threatened to exercise their right to withdraw from the tournament.
India had made a similar objection and threat to Pakistan being given the rights to host the 2018 Emerging Asia Cup.
Relations between the respective boards have soured since India refused to honour the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two signed in 2014. The MoU stated that the two countries will play six bilateral series against each other between 2015 and 2023.
However, changes in the political landscape saw cricketing ties being put on hold with the Indian government refusing to sanction any bilateral series stipulated in the MoU.
The PCB had last year sent a legal notice to the BCCI for failing to honour the agreement.
