Confusion over Asia Cup’s fate

Ag Agencies

KARACHI: There was confusion over the fate of this year’s Asia Cup cricket tournament which was supposed to be hosted by Pakistan in September after Indian cricket chief Sourav Ganguly dropped a bombshell by announcing that the regional extravaganza has been cancelled.

Ganguly, president of the Indian cricket board (BCCI), minced no words when he declared that the Asia Cup has been cancelled.

However, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), which has been hoping that the event will take place according to schedule, doesn’t have any knowledge of the tournament’s cancellation.

“In December, we have the first full series. Asia Cup 2020 has been called-off which was scheduled to take place in September,” Ganguly said in an online interaction.

On being quizzed again, if Asia Cup is officially called off, Ganguly said “Asia Cup 2020 has been cancelled”.

The 2020 Asia Cup was originally slated to get underway in UAE as PCB was set to host the tournament in September. But following, the pandemic situation, it was speculated that Sri Lanka will host the tournament.

After initially stating that they are yet to hear anything, PCB chairman, Ehsan Mani, was quoted as saying by a media report on Wednesday that the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) are now looking to host the tournament next year. “It was decided that Pakistan will swap the tournament with Sri Lanka. In principle, no one is certain that it’s possible to hold the tournament this year. So, we are looking at next year,” Mani, who is currently in England, was quoted as saying.

The future of this year’s tournament, scheduled to be held in September, looked bleak as the world grapples with the Covid-19 pandemic. But in its last meeting, the ACC had stated that it was still in conversation with the member boards.

A couple of weeks ago, Mani said that they have offered Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) to swap the event. As per the original ACC policy, the official hosting rights for this year’s tournament are with the PCB, but with BCCI refusing to send its players to Pakistan, there was a possibility that the tournament could have been played at a neutral venue.