Asia Cup 2018: Team India's base shifted; venue changed

The much-awaited Asia Cup is all set to commence on September 15 as most of the six teams are about to reach the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Team India though might be the last team to arrive with few of their players still in England participating in the ongoing Test series against the home side. However, there are a few logistical changes as the Men in Blue’s base has been shifted to Dubai when the other five teams will stay in the different hotel.

India’s Asia Cup campaign will begin late compared to the remaining teams. They will play their first game on September 18 against Hong Kong and will face their arch-rivals on the very next day. Both the matches will be played at Dubai International Stadium while the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi is the other venue which will host the tournament.

Hotel bookings cancelled

According to the reports in Mumbai Mirror, being the hosts, the Indian players will enjoy all the exclusive rights during the Asia Cup it seems. Earlier, they were the hosts but with Pakistan refusing to play, the Asia Cricket Council (ACC) had to shift the competition to the UAE. Previously, all the teams were booked at the InterContinental but now those have been cancelled for the Indian team.

They will stay in Grand Hyatt in Dubai and all their matches will also take place at the same venue. While their league matches are in the same city due to the fact they are the only team to play back-to-back matches. But even for the Super Four stage, they will be staying in Dubai itself and the same has been agreed upon. In short, India will be not at all travelling to Abu Dhabi during the Asia Cup and in the event of them reaching the final, it is anyways scheduled to be played in Dubai.

However, the BCCI officials have played down the talk of the exclusivity but it is being argued that their entourage which will also include the staff and sponsors needed an exclusive accommodation being the hosts.

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