Hosts confirmed for the upcoming Asia Cup 2018

The 2018 Asia Cup is scheduled to be played from September 15 to 28 and six teams will be fighting to win the championship. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan automatically qualified for the tournament. Six other teams- Hong Kong, Nepal, Malaysia, Oman, Singapore and United Arab Emirates (UAE)- will be fighting for the remaining spot and will join India and Pakistan in Group A.

In the meantime, Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) signed an agreement confirming that UAE will host the event. Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE’s Minister for Culture, Youth and Social Development and the Chairman of the ECB signed the agreement on ECB’s behalf.

We will ensure every support

Amitabh Choudhary, the acting secretary of the BCCI also signed the same in the presence of  Rahul Johri, the BCCI CEO.  Following the signing, Sheikh Nahyan expressed his delight and mentioned hosting the event as a matter of privilege. He also vowed to make the event a grand one.

“It is a matter of great pride for the UAE to host a prestigious event like the Asia Cup. Our country is home to a large section of people from the participating nations and we feel privileged and excited by the opportunity to bring their favourite sport right here to their doorstep.

“This is the biggest cricketing event to be held in the UAE and we will ensure every support to make the 2018 Asia Cup a huge success,” he was quoted as saying in NDTV Sports.

The event will also be back to its 50-overs format after the 2016 edition was conducted in the T20 format, bearing in mind that year’s World T20. India won the tournament last time around and are one of the strong contenders to defend their title.

[interaction id=”5b768cc6afc9e400c91cbe0e”]

For more news and developments, stay tuned on CricTracker.com.