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Source: Google
By Sobhan Garnaik
Asia Cup cricket competition, which should be held in September this year, has been postponed until June 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, reported Asian Cricket Council (ACC) on Thursday.
The ACC likewise said that Pakistan was to initially host the Asia Cup this time, however, because of security reasons, the competition was supposed to be held in Sri Lanka after the SL Board communicated its inability to host the tournament.
The declaration comes a day after BCCI president Sourav Ganguly revealed in an Instagram chat with Journalist Vikrant Gupta that the event was cancelled.
Responding to Ganguly’s announcement, Media director of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Samiul Hasan Burney had said on Thursday that an official conclusion on the issue wrested with the ACC.
The improvement further makes room for the Indian Premier League, which the franchise-based event’s organisers are attempting to hold from September to November with the T20 World Cup likewise set to be conceded.
“From the onset, the Board was keen on organising the tournament as per the original schedule. However, travel restrictions, country-specific quarantine requirements, key health risks, and social distancing mandates have posed substantial challenges to the holding of the Asia Cup. Above all, the risks related to the health and safety of participating players, support staff, commercial partners, fans, and the cricketing community were deemed to be significant.”
“Accordingly, the Board, after careful consideration of all the above factors have 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,” Asian Cricket Council said in a statement.
The Asia Cup is played once at regular intervals, and since 2016 it has been on a rotation basis – shifting back and forth among T20Is and ODIs. Pakistan hasn’t hosted the competition since 2008. Sri Lanka had the privilege of hosting the 2010 edition, while the following three editions were held in Bangladesh.
The last Asia Cup competition took place in the UAE. India is the best team throughout the entire existence of the competition and is the defending champions, having won the last two tournaments.
