The Asian Cricket Council meeting has ended in Bahrain. During this meeting, BCCI and PCB came face-to-face for the right to host Asia Cup 2023. While Pakistan is adamant on hosting the tournament, Jay Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and president of the Asian Cricket Council, has refused on Team India travelling to Pakistan for the Asia Cup.

A BCCI official said that the ACC is in Bahrain for the meeting. And BCCI’s stand will not change. Team India will not travel to Pakistan as the board has not received permission from the government to proceed. And if this happens, the tournament will either be shifted to the UAE, with the PCB retaining the hosting rights, or Sri Lanka could be another option. The recent Peshawar bombings have again raised security concerns about holding cricket tournaments in Pakistan.

In December last year, ACC President Shah had revealed the Asia Cup schedule but did not mention the venue of this 6-team tournament. This led Sethi to accuse Shah of taking a unilateral decision, a charge which the ACC officially rejected, saying that repeated emails to the PCB seeking recommendations on the travel schedule went unanswered .

In October last year, Jay Shah officially told the media that India would not travel to Pakistan. The then PCB chief Rameez Raja had then threatened that if this happened, Pakistan would not travel to India for the 50-over World Cup later this year.

Asia Cup 2023 Schedule

The Asia Cup will be held in September. Although its full schedule has not been announced yet. The Asia Cup was to be held in Pakistan, but Asian Cricket Council President Jay Shah confirmed that the Asia Cup would be shifted out of Pakistan. Hence, the venue and schedule are yet to be announced.

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia is starting on February 9. Both the teams will play a four test match series. After this, three ODI series will also be played between both the teams, but even before the series could begin, 2 important players of Team India seem to be embroiled in controversy.

Indian fast bowlers Mohammad Siraj and Umran Malik had refused to get Tilak applied in Nagpur hotel. For this reason both of them are being trolled on social media. However, many fans were also supporting both the pacers.

Apart from Siraj, the Indian team’s batting coach Vikram Rathore and sports staff member Hari Prasad Mohan also did not apply Tilak, but as both are Hindu, the critics are deliberately targeting Siraj and Umran and trying to give a religious angle to the matter. If fans are well aware even the South African and English cricketers ask Muslim players to leave before they open an alcohol bottle for celebrations as they avoid it. But seems like a simple matter of religious choice that is very well understood by foreign players is still a matter of debate for some small Indian minds.

What is the whole matter?

A video of the Indian team is going viral on social media, in which all the team members are seen checking in the hotel. During this, the hotel staff can be seen welcoming all the team members by applying Tilak, but some members of Team India refuse to apply Tilak. It can be seen in the video that Umran Malik, Mohammad Siraj, Vikram Rathore and Hari Prasad Mohan refuse to apply Tilak.

Many self proclaimed critics have tried to create controversy by sharing this video on social media and saying that Siraj and Umran Malik are very fanatic about their religion. That is why both of them are not getting Tilak applied. However, the fans of both the pacers came in support and wrote that even Vikram Routhar and Hari Prasad did not apply Tilak, but no one is making statements on them.

However, Siraj and Umran are focusing on their game away from these futile arguments. In the absence of Bumrah, it will be their responsibility to win India against Australia.

It’s not just the Indian cricket team that is in a wedding mood, even Pakistani cricket players are also becoming bridegrooms. Indian Test team vice-captain KL Rahul tied the knot with Athiya Shetty on January 23, while Indian spinner Axar Patel tied the knot with girlfriend Meha Patel three days later. And now it is Pakistan’s star fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi’s turn to mount the mare.

Shaheen Afridi got married on Friday, February 3 and became the son-in-law of former Pakistan captain and dashing all-rounder Shahid Afridi. Shaheen’s marriage with Afridi’s daughter was fixed in 2020 itself, which was completed today with all Islamic rituals.

Star pacer Shaheen Afridi is married to Shahid Afridi’s daughter Ansha. All the rituals of Shaheen’s marriage took place in Karachi. It was here that the bride and groom read the Nikah-nama and the entire wedding ceremony took place in this city. Photos and videos of Shaheen’s Nikah are being shared on social media now.

For the unversed, Shaheen Afridi’s engagement took place two years ago but due to the corona virus epidemic and other reasons, his marriage kept getting postponed till now. All the players including Pakistan cricket team captain Babar Azam and former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed attended Shaheen’s wedding.

The date and venue of Shaheen’s wedding, one of the best fast bowlers in world cricket, were fixed last month in December itself. Shahid Afridi, while talking to Pakistani News channel has revealed that Shaheen and Ansha’s wedding will take place in Karachi. He told that this marriage will be according to Islamic tradition. Shaheen and Ansha got married exactly as their father-in-law and former Pakistan team star all-rounder Shahid Afridi had asked them.

As revealed by Shahid Afridi, post this nikah, Shaheen can be seen returning to the field to play for Lahore Qalandars in the PSL.