PCB explains absence of host Pakistan's name on Asia Cup jerseys

Pakistan introduced their fresh jerseys for the Asia Cup 2023 on Monday. Pictures of players donning their respective team jerseys were circulated across social media platforms. An intriguing detail was noted in these images - namely, the absence of the host country's name beneath the Asia Cup logo.

However, a source close to Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has cleared the air and explained the reason for the absence of Pakistan's logo on the Asia Cup’s shirts. According to PCB sources, the Asian Cricket Council had decided not to mention the host country's name during the previous Asia Cup, and this decision was unanimously made in the ACC. Similarly, a decision was made not to include the year with the host country's name as well.

It was further revealed that this decision was taken due to the mention of multiple logo likr "Sri Lanka 2022" and "UAE 2022" on previous edition's jerseys.

“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,” a source close to PCB said.

The tournament nomenclature was also explained in the statement given by the PCB official.

“Nevertheless, it's important to mention 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 read: ‘Men's ODI Asia Cup 2023 - Multan, Pakistan’,” the source added.

It is worth mentioning that the issue arose due to the absence of Pakistan's name on the shirt exclusively in relation to the host status, and Pakistan cricket fans strongly criticized this decision