The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has made it clear their team will participate in the Asia Cup in Bangladesh only after getting a clearance from their government due to security concerns in the violence-hit neigbouring country.
The PCB statement has come after the chief executive of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Ashraf ul Haq told the media after a Board meeting that all the participating nations had no issues in playing in the Asia Cup and it would be held as scheduled from February 16.
But the PCB Chairman, Najam Sethi negated the remarks from the ACC official.
"After the ACC meeting, I saw a lot of media statements from various quarters, especially the ACC Chief Executive, which tend to suggest that PCB, along with other participating countries, does not have any reservations regarding Pakistan team's participation in the Asia Cup in Bangladesh," Sethi said.
"This is obviously contrary to the position conveyed by our COO Subhan Ahmad at the ACC meeting. The PCB does have reservations on the prevailing security situation in Bangladesh with specific reference to Pakistan.
"Indeed, that is why PCB has decided to send its security representative to Bangladesh to attend the ICC security meeting on 20th January to assess the situation there and report back," Sethi said.
