Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has urged “someone to find the real story” behind the debacle of Asia Cup 2023 venue shift. Despite deciding to shift Asia Cup Super 4 games to much drier Hambantota, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) made a U-turn at the last moment. All Super 4 games including the blockbuster India vs Pakistan (IND vs PAK) and the final on September 17. Gavaskar put the blame on players as he believes it was them who forced ACC to change the decision at the 11th hour.
As per the weather forecast, heavy rains are predicted in Colombo throughout the week. Hence, ACC’s change in stance on Asia Cup 2023 venue change came as a surprise to many.
“Well, somebody should find the real story. It appears from cricketing points, that it was probably the players who didn’t want to go to Hambantota. So the administrators had to at last moment, change it from Hambantota to Colombo despite knowing Colombo could have pretty dicey weather,” Sunil Gavaskar told Sports Today.
“When I meant players, I didn’t mean players of one team but players of all teams that were supposed to be there,” he added.
Don’t blame ACC, SLC & PCB
While the entire cricketing fraternity has lashed out at the ACC for mismanagement of Asia Cup 2023, Sunil Gavaskar has decided to back the administrators. It was the ACC which refused to conduct matches in Pakistan and shifted most of the matches to Sri Lanka where it is monsoon in September. The Hybrid Model, even though proposed by the Pakistan Cricket Board, has not worked out with a hectic Asia Cup 2023 schedule and bad weather.
Gavaskar said it is the administrators who often face fans’ wrath.
“It is easy to point fingers at administrators and they can be easily made scapegoats. It is really important to find out why despite knowing that the weather forecast of Colombo won’t be good, matches were not held in Hambantota,” Sunil Gavaskar said.
Be accommodating
Even though modern-day players have great authority in scheduling, Gavaskar has advised them to be “accommodating”. It should be noted that ACC did not reveal the reason behind sticking to the original itinerary of Asia Cup 2023. It is likely that Hambantota got the boot because it is not fit to host four teams, broadcast crews and match officials.
“Obviously, you want players to be in good mental space. The gym facilities, practice facilities need to be good but at times like these, we need to look at the larger picture and Hambantota had less chance of rain and Colombo has more chance of rain,” Sunil Gavaskar said.
“And when I say experimentation, it is a chance to prepare for the World Cup. But by no means I am saying that Asia Cup is less important. We also need to win the tournament,” he said.
Asia Cup 2023 Schedule – Revised
| Date | Venue | Match | Stage | Match Timing/Result |
| 6 Sep | Lahore | Pakistan vs Bangladesh | Super 4 | 3:00 PM IST (Pak win by 7 wickets) |
| 9 Sep | Colombo | Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh | Super 4 | 3:00 PM IST |
| 10 Sep | Colombo | India vs Pakistan | Super 4 | 3:00 PM IST |
| 11 Sep | Colombo | Reserve Day | (Ind won by 228 runs) | |
| 12 Sep | Colombo | India vs Sri Lanka | Super 4 | (India won by 41 runs) |
| 14 Sep | Colombo | Pakistan vs Sri Lanka | Super 4 | (Sri Lanka won by 2 wickets) |
| 15 Sep | Colombo | India vs Bangladesh | Super 4 | 3:00 PM IST |
| 17 Sep | Colombo | Final | 3:00 PM IST | |
| 18 Sep | Colombo | Reserve Day |
