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India have assured hosts Pakistan that they would feature in the Asia Cup next summer, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Nasim Ashraf said here on Tuesday.

Ashraf said that he has got the assurance from top officials of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that the Indians will feature in the continental event which he said is now likely to take place in the first week of June in Karachi.

The ninth edition of the Asia Cup was supposed to be held in Pakistan in April 2008. But it has been decided to reschedule the biennial on the request of the BCCI which said it clashed with the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

There were speculations that the next year’s edition might get scrapped because of the lack of interest shown by India who together with Pakistan and Sri Lanka are the main attractions of the six-nation contest. But Ashraf stressed that the tournament will be held in Pakistan next year in a befitting manner.

“The Asia Cup is very much on,” the PCB chief told a group of Pakistani reporters. “I’ve talked to BCCI officials about the tournament and they have promised that India would certainly take part in the tournament,” he added.

Ashraf said that Pakistan agreed to reschedule the tournament on India’s request because “our own players were to feature in the IPL”. “Some of our top players will be taking part in the IPL. Then another reason why we agreed to find new dates for the event was the fact that April didn’t suit us because our players will be playing in a tough series against Australia just about the same time,” he explained.

There have been also reports that the BCCI had proposed to hold a tri-nation series involving Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka and has promised to raise more profits through such a contest than the Asia Cup.

Ashraf agreed that such a proposal did crop up but the PCB didn’t agree to it. “Our contention is that it is not just about the money,” he said. “Next year would be the 25th anniversary of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) which is why we want to assure that the Asia Cup is held in a successful manner in June,” he added. The Asia Cup was initiated in 1983 and since then eight events have been held at different venues.

Ashraf said that Karachi has been selected as the venue for the Asia Cup because the weather there would be better than any major cricket centre of the country during that time of the year.

The format of the Asia Cup sees two groups of three sides, where each side in each group plays each other once. The top two teams in each group play in knock-out semifinals, with a one-off final to follow. World Cup finalists Sri Lanka top Group A that also includes Bangladesh and United Arab Emirates. Pakistan and India share Group B with Oman.

Source:Cricket News