The ICC chairman Greg Barclay and CEO Geoff Allardice are set to meet Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Najam Sethi at the board's headquarters in Lahore headquarters. The discussion in the meeting will be regarding the issues related to their national team's participation in the upcoming ODI World Cup in India scheduled in October. The BCCI and PCB are at loggerheads over the participation in the Asia Cup. BCCI has already made it clear that the Indian team will not go to Pakistan for the Asia Cup, while Pakistan has also said in response that if this happens then their team will not come to India for the ODI World Cup.
Top ICC officials will also meet PCB COO Barrister Salman Naseer and other top officials. Sethi has said that if the Indian team does not come to Pakistan to play in the Asia Cup, they will also demand that their matches be played in Bangladesh. Barclay and Allardice will try to break the deadlock on this issue so that India and Pakistan matches do not have to be held in Dhaka.
A PCB insider claimed that Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and even Nepal have conveyed to Shah that they have no problem playing some matches in Pakistan, while the rest should be held in Sri Lanka in September. Barcley will be visiting Pakistan for the first time, although Allardice has been to Lahore frequently since taking over at the ICC. Barcley will be the first ICC chairman to visit Pakistan since ICC chairman Ray Mali in 2008. This will be the first time since October 2004 that both the top ICC officials will visit the PCB headquarters.
