Major controversy erupts in Asia Cup! PCB faces backlash as Pakistan's name goes missing from team jerseys

The Asia Cup 2023 has become embroiled in controversy due to the absence of Pakistan's name on the participating teams' jerseys. The tournament kicked off with Pakistan facing Nepal in Multan on August 30th. Although Pakistan secured a resounding victory over the underdogs, former cricketers and fans were quick to notice that the team jerseys only featured the Asia Cup logo on the right side, without the name of the host country. This same issue was observed in the Group B match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, where the host nation's name was also missing from their jerseys.

Images of the jerseys worn by India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh quickly went viral, with fans expressing their disappointment. Some even pointed out that in the previous edition, Sri Lanka's name was mentioned below the Asia Cup logo, despite the tournament being held in the UAE, as they were the original hosts.

This year, Pakistan is the official host, although the tournament is being played in a hybrid model, with Sri Lanka serving as the other host, due to India's concerns about traveling to Pakistan.

Prominent former Pakistan cricketers, such as Rashid Latif and Mohsin Khan, along with others, have criticized the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the Asia Cricket Council (ACC) for not advocating for a change in the team jerseys. Latif described the situation as unacceptable.

“This is unacceptable and it is the Asian Cricket Council which must explain this oversight since the Asia Cup is their property,” he said.

PCB, on its part, has attempted to downplay the situation by disclosing that the ACC had decided, after years of the Asia Cup, to exclude the host country's name from the Asia Cup logo in future events. However, former Pakistan players and fans were not satisfied with this explanation.

Host Pakistan’s logo that has gone missing from the official kits of the Asia Cup 2023 will haunt those behind it. We leave it until Pakistan and India play their match tomorrow thereafter we will rightfully again question who is behind this blunder? Good luck team Pakistan… pic.twitter.com/WzGtkdGt3P

— Rashid Latif |  (@iRashidLatif68) September 1, 2023

In fact, some have even raised doubts about why the PCB agreed to such a decision, considering that Pakistan was hosting a multi-team event after a long gap of 15 years.

“Makes no sense at all. Then why has the ACC given the host country’s name on the logos for their Asian Emerging Nations Cup or their Asian under-16 event held in July in Malaysia,” former Test batsman Mohsin Khan questioned.

“Given the current scenario between the two countries perhaps the BCCI official felt it would be embarrassing for the Indian team players to wear kits with the name of Pakistan on the official Asia Cup logo,” he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Rashid Latif, on the other hand, did not dismiss this possibility and emphasized the need for clarification, considering the embarrassing nature of the incident.

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