PCB explains the reason behind the absence of Pakistan’s name for the Asia Cup jerseys following the outrage on social media. The images of jerseys sparked discussions across social media platforms after pictures of players sporting their team attire circulated. An interesting observation was made – the absence of the host country’s name beneath the Asia Cup logo.
To address the curiosity, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) stepped in to provide an explanation for the omission of Pakistan’s logo on the Asia Cup shirts. Inside sources from the PCB revealed that the decision was rooted in the Asian Cricket Council’s (ACC) collective agreement. In the previous edition of the Asia Cup, the ACC had collectively chosen not to include the host country’s name in the branding, and this choice extended to not featuring the year alongside the host country’s name as well.
The rationale for this decision stemmed from the presence of inscriptions like “Sri Lanka 2022” and “UAE 2022” on the shirts.
Elaborating on this decision, a PCB official stated, “As part of a deliberate choice during the last Asia Cup, we made a conscious effort to exclude the mention of the year and the host country’s name from the tournament logo. This was in response to the multiple variations of logos being used at the time – one displaying ‘Sri Lanka 2022,’ another featuring ‘UAE 2022,’ and a third with only the year 2022. Our aim was to establish consistency in our approach, resulting in a more streamlined logo representation. While the Sri Lanka name and year had already been printed on the jerseys due to the timing of our decision, we have exclusively employed the Asia Cup logo without the year and host name in all our communications related to this year’s tournament.”
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The official further clarified how the tournament’s nomenclature will be structured moving forward. “It’s important to note that the tournament’s nomenclature will follow the format of ‘Gender-Format-Tournament Name-Year, City, Country.’ As an example, for matches held in Multan, the stadium branding will display: ‘Men’s ODI Asia Cup 2023 – Multan, Pakistan,'” concluded the PCB spokesperson.
Notably, the concern arose due to the exclusion of Pakistan’s name from the shirt, particularly with regard to its role as the host nation. This decision has led to substantial criticism from avid Pakistan cricket supporters.