'He should pay attention to Indian cricket and IPL' - Rashid Latif over Sourav Ganguly's Asia Cup cancellation statement

The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has decided to postpone the Asia Cup 2020 which was supposed to take place in September. The Coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the international schedule and cricket at the top level has only returned a couple of days ago. With the situation still not normal in the Asian countries, the tournament will now possibly take place in June next year.

However, a controversy erupted as the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly made the announcement regarding the Asia Cup even earlier than the ACC. In an online interview, he clearly stated that India will play its first full series only in December and the Asia Cup is cancelled. At that time, neither any of the other boards or the ACC had not commented anything about the matter.

Even the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) media director had slammed Ganguly for his statement and now former cricketer Rashid Latif has also opened up on the issue. He warned the 48-year-old stating that the final decision will always be of ACC and not for any board’s chief while also suggesting him to not show any undue power.

“Whether the Asia Cup is canceled or not can be decided by the Asian Cricket Council. Showing undue power will only hurt Asian countries. Ganguly should pay attention to Indian cricket and IPL,” Latif tweeted via his official Twitter handle.

Whether the Asia Cup is canceled or not can be decided by the Asian Cricket Council. Showing undue power will only hurt Asian countries, @SGanguly99 should pay attention to Indian cricket and IPL . @TheRealPCBMedia @BCCI #AsiaCup @BCBtigers @OfficialSLC @ACBofficials

— Rashid Latif 🇵🇰 (@iRashidLatif68) July 9, 2020

Sri Lanka to host in 2021 while Pakistan in 2022

The ACC released an official statement about the Asia Cup being postponed only after Sourav Ganguly and the PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani confirmed it in the media. It has also been decided that Sri Lanka will play hosts in June 2021 while Pakistan will get the opportunity in 2022.

Rather the PCB was supposed to host the Asia Cup this year but they swapped the rights with the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) due to the COVID-19 situation in the country. Moreover, only Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had fewer cases compared to the other Asian countries to have any chance of the tournament going ahead this year.

But eventually, it has been deferred to next year now and it has also given a wider window for the Indian Premier League (IPL) to take place.