IND vs PAK: Why Is Pakistan Not Written On Players' Jerseys During Asia Cup 2023? PCB Finally Reveals The Reason

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has explained the reason behind Pakistan’s name missing as hosts on the team jerseys for the ongoing Asia Cup 2023. Many believe that the reason behind it was that the tournament is being co-hosted by Pakistan and Sri Lanka although the former were originally given the hosting rights.

However, few fans were quick to point out that the team jerseys had ‘Sri Lanka‘ written on them beneath the Asia Cup logo when the tournament was held in UAE last year due to the COVID-19 situation. Unsurprisingly, it has become a major talking point, especially in the Pakistani cricket fraternity.

Does anyone know why the name of the host country is missing under the Asia Cup logo? It's always there, should be Pakistan written over ?

Last year, it was Sri Lanka written over there because they were hosts despite the tournament being played in UAE. #AsiaCup2023 pic.twitter.com/yEvDG7xk9Q

— Farid Khan (@_FaridKhan) August 28, 2023

And the PCB has now decided to clear things up. According to a report in Cricket Pakistan, the Asian Cricket Council has decided to discontinue the practice of writing host team’s name beneath the Asia Cup logo to avoid any confusion. It was further revealed that this decision was taken due to the mention of “Sri Lanka 2022” and “UAE 2022” on the shirts last year.

“As previously discussed, we made a deliberate decision during the last Asia Cup not to include the year and host name in the tournament logo. This was due to the presence of multiple logos circulating, one featuring Sri Lanka 2022, another with UAE 2022, and one with only the year 2022.

“Our aim was to ensure consistency in our approach for a more effective logo outreach. Please take note that you observed the Sri Lanka name and year solely on the jerseys, as the teams had already printed them by the time, we made the change. Consequently, for this year’s Asia Cup, right from the initial communication regarding the schedule announcement, we have been exclusively using the Asia Cup logo without the year and host name,” an official from PCB said.

Pakistan start Asia Cup 2023 campaign with a win:

Pakistan have started their campaign in Asia Cup 2023 on a stunning note by registering a mammoth win of 238 runs over Nepal on Wednesday (August 30). One of the favorites to win the tournament, the Babar Azam-led side recovered from a shaky start to post a mammoth total of 342/6.

Babar Azam scored 151 while Iftikhar Ahmed slammed an unbeaten 109 off just 71 balls. In reply, Nepal were all out for 104. Pakistan will now lock horns against arch-rivals India in their second and last group game.