Asia Cup set to be cancelled

While the BCCI chief, Sourav Ganguly, stated that the Asia Cup has been cancelled, PCB chairman, Ehsan Mani also said that the tournament could now only be held next year.

Sourav Ganguly said that the Asia Cup has been 'cancelled' due to coronavirus.

The Asia Cup 2020 is set to be cancelled. While there is no official word from the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief, Sourav Ganguly, told Bengali daily Anandabazar Patrika that the tournament has been ‘cancelled’.

After initially stating that they are yet to hear anything, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief, Ehsan Mani, told Sportstar late on Wednesday that the 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, said.

PCB had the hosting rights for this year’s tournament, but it had agreed to swap the tournament with Sri Lanka.

The future of this year’s tournament, scheduled to be held in September, looked bleak as the world grapples with the coronavirus 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 had told this publication 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 the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) refusing to send its players to Pakistan, there was a possibility that the tournament could have been played at a neutral venue.

There was a possibility of moving the tournament to the United Arab Emirates.

 

“We discussed it at the last ACC meeting and I spoke to Sri Lanka because we were uncertain about the situation in the UAE and Sri Lanka conveyed that the situation is much better there. So, we have asked for more details from Sri Lanka,” Mani had said then.

While he had clarified that it was still not ‘100 per cent confirmed’ that the island nation would host the tournament, Mani had indicated that the tournament could be held in Sri Lanka. However, sources in the Sri Lanka Cricket Board too confirmed that the tournament is set to be cancelled.

Despite repeated attempts, ACC chief, Nazmul Hasan Papon, wasn’t available for a comment.