The treacherous hands of fate are once again leaving the Asia Cup feeling frail. Tossed like a ball between politics and tete-a-tete, it seems that this cricket tournament, even with the adaptations of forms and venue, is going to continue to be a ground to settle scores.

If there is a feeble impression to the Asia Cup, one can only blame it on the current state of affairs that beleaguers this tournament that could have held such promise with cricket fanaticism having the potential to make Asia a powerhouse when it comes to commercial agenda. However, while other domestic Twenty20 leagues have thrived internally, something as prestigious as the Asia Cup has languished for want of having an authority bold enough to drive its importance home.

Yet again the Asia Cup finds itself as a precursor to another edition of the World Cup, teams using the opportunity to fine tune their game and their team composition. If last year, the Asia Cup moved away from its fifty overs a side limited overs structure to Twenty20 to allow for precisely that kind of practice ahead of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup, this year the Asia Cup might have to do the reverse and return to its original format in the build up the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

However, if one would think that deciding on the format alone would be the headache, think again. Yet again the Asia Cups finds itself at crossroads in the midst of continued animosity between neighbours India and Pakistan. Both fierce cricket loving nations, Pakistan’s state sponsored terrorism put paid to hearty bilateral contests on an indefinite break for over a decade now, leaving cricket weaker by not satiating one of its richest contests.

That said, in some ways, some would contend that the lack of bilateral ties has only enhanced the gripping intensity that follows the two teams such as when they met in the ICC Twenty20 World Cup last year. However, cricket being such a globally restricted sport, it cannot afford to have the Asian rivals threatening to boycott important tournaments, or see eye-to-eye when it comes to decisions involving hosting rights.

Even as India prepare to host the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 later this year, Jay Shah, who is amongst the highest administrators within the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and the president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has ruled out the prospect of the Indian cricket team travelling to Pakistan who hold the rights for 2023.

This decision which has caused simmering tensions for some time now across the border are leading to stand off that might see the Asia Cup compromised once more, played with hosting rights taken out of Pakistan’s hands, or of India yet again reiterating their position that they do not need the Asia Cup as much as the Asia Cup needs the Indian cricket team.

Incidentally while India did participate last year after there was considerable tug of war over the issue even during the pandemic, the Indian team failed to make it to the business end.

While some might have laughed and mocked at some of the rhetoric from Pakistan and the retaliatory response that Pakistan might not send a team for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 to India if Indian cricketers feel unsafe to tour Pakistan for the Asia Cup, the price ultimately being paid is the Asia Cup. Its death would also mean the collapse of even the figurehead powerhouse that the Asian Cricket Council has stood to be against the traditional backlash where there was the issue of colonial hangover in the way cricket was played and terms dictated.

Speaking on the sidelines of the ICC (International Cricket Council) executive board meetings as well as ACC meetings later this month, Pakistan’s Najam Sethi is adamant that it was time for some clarity and firmness. Sethi told reporters, “We have complex issues on hand but for me, when I go to the ACC and ICC meetings, I have kept all options open for us and we have to take a clear position now.”

It is harder for Pakistan to do as Sethi bids, given that the country is in political and financial turmoil and it is not just the empty coffers of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that are rattling.

Reiterating that Pakistan is hosting foreign teams on home soil, barring a couple of tours that were mired in security concerns with New Zealand returning and England pulling out, Sethi stated, “I have kept my options because when all teams are coming to Pakistan and have no issues with security, then why is India worried about security? In the same way, we can also have security concerns over sending our (Pakistan) team to India for the World Cup and I will be bringing this to the table at the coming meetings.”

Looking at Pakistan’s long term prospects were India to have their way again, Sethi went on to add, “Obviously we don’t support this stance (by India and the BCCI) because we want to host the Asia Cup. It is not just about the Asia Cup and World Cup, it is also about the Champions Trophy in Pakistan in 2025.”

Softening the stance that Pakistan might retaliate by not playing the ICC Cricket World Cup in India, Sethi added, “If he (our patron in chief, i.e. government) says go and play in World Cup, even if India doesn’t come for the Asia Cup, what can we do? If he says don't go, it is a similar situation for us.”

Former Pakistan cricketers like Shahid Afridi are pessimistic about the two nations not only pulling off threats but also, of the governing body being able to do anything in the matter. With the financial and influential clout resting heavily in India’s hands and with Indian cricket generating as much as seventy percent of the global cricket revenue, it does hold the ball in its court in many ways.

But what is hurting the cause of the Asia Cup is that it has not grown as it was expected to do so at its inception with teams still amounting to barely a handful, instead of the harboured notions of a mini World Cup, which is not only a little bit of a stretch but also, a misnomer because unlike the now defunct ICC Champions Trophy, it has only a slice of the cricket playing nations gathering for it.

Sri Lanka, apart from the UAE, have been preferred stand-by options in the stand off between India and Pakistan. But the defending champions have had to deal with their own financial crisis in their country recently and the long term ramifications of this hold off is bound to hurt broadcasting rights, sponsorship deals as well as fan following, all of which rely heavily on the India versus Pakistan matches to generate both, hype and momentum.

If India were to pull out while Pakistan retain hosting rights, the tournament itself could be in jeopardy. This is because of India’s contention that they are not financially dependent on the Asia Cup, leave alone other factors that make the Asia Cup the only viable opportunity for teams like Afghanistan who need the exposure and sustenance in their own build up.

There has even been talk of a split tournament where India play their matches in the UAE while other teams will go ahead and participate in Pakistan as part of the Asia Cup. This seems like a tall order and also, a recipe for disaster given the short nature of the tournament, a complication it could better avoid.

Having been a tournament that originally supported the limited overs internationals format, the Asia Cup was considered to be in danger of being on the chopping block as countries such as India and Pakistan have seen more lucrative incentives in having their own individual Twenty20 leagues with a generous sprinkling of foreign players touring the nations.

While the Asia Cup has adapted itself to the need of the hour, embracing Twenty20 when that was the focus of the teams and World Cup in a particular year, there is only so much the Asia Cup can stretch when its participants continue to stay the same in numbers and while the powerful cricket drawing nations are at war, even proxy war, constantly threatening to pull the rug from under its feet.

The Asia Cup limbo serves no one, least of all the tournament itself. Unless the Asian Cricket Council was to find a more interim and plausibly a more permanent solution to the hosting rights saga, and the travesty of handing Pakistan the rights knowing the Indian government would not endanger the Indian cricket team, the Asia Cup, one fears, might not survive the wrangling much longer. Not while cricket schedules have started to overlap in the midst of a widening Twenty20 leagues business around the world from Dubai to South Africa, Australia to India and the Caribbean, which cricket itself may die a natural death of sorts where traditional structures are concerned.

The agenda behind the setting up of the Asia Cup was to enhance the hand of the Asian cricket boards and community at large. However, this hog tied politics between teams and nations and the subsequent waste of procedure in awarding Pakistan the hosting rights in the first place and then going through this deadlock battles in order to have the Asia Cup happen at all, has diluted its profile, its value and the perspective it brings, even as a tournament that serves as a precursor to the World Cup.

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SREELATA S. YELLAMRAZU