Asia Cup postponed, officially
Image : Collected
|| Desk Report ||
The Asia Cricket Council postponed the upcoming edition of the Asia Cup due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, said ACC in a press release on Thursday.
The official announcement by ACC came a day after it after BCCI resident Sourav Ganguly announced that the Asia Cup 2020 has been canceled.
There were lots of speculations going around after Sourav’s announcement as other board member remained tight lipped about it before ACC clear the air officially.
‘’The Executive Board of the ACC has met on multiple occasions to evaluate the impact of the COVID- 19 pandemic on the Asia Cup tournament scheduled in September 2020. From the onset the Board was keen on organizing the tournament as per the original schedule,’’ ACC was quoted in the press release.
‘’However, travel restrictions, country-specific quarantine requirements, fundamental health risks and social distancing mandates have posed as substantial challenges to the holding of the Asia Cup. Above all, the risks related to health and safety of participating players, support staff, commercial partners, fans and the cricketing community were deemed to be significant,’’ it added
‘’Accordingly, the Board, after careful consideration of all the above factors, has determined that the Asia Cup 2020 be postponed. Conducting the event in a responsible manner remains the priority of the ACC and the Board is hopeful that the tournament will be held in 2021. The ACC is currently working towards securing June 2021 as a suitable window for the same,’’ it added.
ACC also added that host country Pakistan Cricket Board have swapped the tournament with Sri Lanka Cricket and as a result Sri Lanka will host the 2021 edition of the tournament while Pakistan will host the following Asia Cup, scheduled in 2022.
‘’It may also be noted that the hosts for the Asia Cup 2020, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), has exchanged hosting rights for the tournament with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). Through this arrangement, the SLC will now host the rescheduled Asia Cup expected in June 2021 while the PCB will host the Asia Cup 2022,’’ said ACC.
The tournament was set to be held in the United Arab Emirates in September this year. Pakistan were to host the tournament but India weren't willing to travel to Pakistan. The BCCI had earlier stated that it didn't have a problem with Pakistan hosting the Asia Cup, as long as it was held at a neutral venue.
