Pakistan get U-19 cricket Asia Cup shifted from Bengaluru to Malaysia

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had earlier expressed its reservations in travelling to India for the Under-19 Cricket Asia Cup owing to the political tensions between the two countries.

The Under-19 cricket Asia Cup, scheduled to be held in Bengaluru, has been moved to Malaysia following the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)’s objection to the tournament being held in India. The tournament will now be held in November in Malaysia.

India are the defending champions of the Under-19 Asia Cup, having won the 2016 edition that was held in Sri Lanka. (HT Photo)

“The matter of shifting the tournament to Malaysia was amicably agreed by all participants in the development and executive committees, since no one wanted it marred by security considerations of any member,” PCB chairman Najam Sethi was quoted as saying by espncricinfo on Saturday.

The PCB had earlier expressed its reservations in travelling to India owing to the political tensions between the two countries.

But the Western Region qualifying round -- consisting of teams from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain -- will be played in Kuwait although the political crisis in the region is quite bad and a number of countries have broken their ties with Qatar.

Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have earned an automatic qualification.

Two teams each from the Western and Southern Region will join them with a total of eight teams featuring in the meet.