"You can include England in it and make it Euro-Asia Cup"- Salman Butt takes a dig at PCB chief Najam Sethi for suggesting Asia Cup in England

Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt made a sarcastic comment about PCB chief Najam Sethi suggesting the Asia Cup to be played at a neutral venue like England.

In an interview with BBC earlier, Najam Sethi stressed how Asia Cup could be played at a neutral venue like England if India aren't accepting the 'hybrid model'. He had said:

“The first issue is in principle do you accept the hybrid model? That we play some matches in Pakistan, and most other in a neutral venue. The second issue is once you agree on that, whether we play in Sri Lanka, of in Bangladesh or in the UAE or indeed in England, that’s up to the host country to decide. We are the hosts. So we are amenable to discussing that issue as to where the neutral venue will be.”

Salman Butt slammed Najam Sethi for this suggestion as he felt Asia Cup being played outside of Asia didn't make any sense. Here's what he wads quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan:

“A neutral venue like this [England] is not viable for Asia Cup, it will not make sense as it will mean that there is not a single venue in Asia where it could be held. You can include England in it and make it Euro-Asia Cup. You can also give this suggestion. In the past, Austral-Asia Cup used to take place in which Australia participated. You can also include Ireland and Netherlands in it."

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Najam Sethi claimed Pakistan will use hybrid model in World Cup

Najam Sethi also had given an interview to The Indian Express earlier, wherein he had claimed that Pakistan would play all their World Cup games at a neutral venue and not in India. He had clearly stated that if India don't travel to Pakistan for the World Cup, Pakistan will also not play their World Cup games in India.

Here's what he was quoted as saying:

“If India now wants to have a neutral venue and accepts the hybrid model, then we’ll use the same hybrid model in the World Cup. Pakistan can play its World Cup matches in Dhaka or any other venue to which India agrees, and similarly in the Champions Trophy. So all the other countries can come and play in Pakistan but India can play at a neutral venue. So this is a model that goes forward and resolves this political logjam.”

It will be interesting to see how this tension between the two boards ends and how do they come up with a viable solution for both the showpiece events later this year.