Long-term broadcast deal will be in jeopardy if India-Pakistan clash doesn't happen in Asia Cup: Source

Asia Cup.The Asia Cup has been allotted to Pakistan but due to the prevailing political tensions between the neighbours, BCCI has said India will not send its team for the tournament in September and would rather want the continental event be moved to the UAE or Sri Lanka.However, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has so far not agreed to the demand, leading to a stalemate.In the event of India withdrawing from the Asia Cup in Pakistan, the tournament will lose its sheen and the broadcaster could incur heavy losses with no riveting India-Pakistan clashes.

A source said that under the long-term agreement between the ACC and the broadcaster, it is mandatory that Pakistan and India play each other at least twice, or thrice, in the regional multi-team event."It is not possible to have the Asia Cup without Pakistan and India matches. This is the understanding on which the agreement is based," the source said.He said the broadcasters have been guaranteed that the arch-rivals will play at least twice before the final as it happened during the Asia Cup in 2022 in the UAE."Without Pakistan and India matches, the broadcasting agreement goes awry," he warned.The source added that during the last ACC executive board meeting, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief, Najam Sethi, had made it clear that Pakistan wants to host the tournament, and they were willing to give all security guarantees to the participating teams, including India."Sethi has not said that the PCB could consider being hosts and split the matches between venues in Pakistan and UAE to allow India to play in UAE," the source said.There have been suggestions that while other participating countries can play in Pakistan, the big-ticket India-Pakistan clash could be