Pakistan likely to host Asia Cup in 2022; Sri Lanka to retain the rights for 2023

On May 19, Wednesday, the 2021 edition of the Asia Cup was cancelled in the wake of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The tournament was scheduled to be hosted in June 2021 in Sri Lanka, however, the authorities took the hard call of cancelling the tournament after the Island nation reported an alarming number of positive coronavirus cases daily.

The current edition of the tournament was supposed to be played in T20 format, unlike the regular 50-overs, to ensure for all the participating teams a chance to prepare for the ICC T20 World Cup. India is scheduled to host the 2021 edition of the T20 World Cup in October this year.

However, this will not be the first time that the competition has been suspended. The Cup was initially planned for 2020 but the Covid-19 pandemic ensured that it was postponed for an indefinite time. The tournament was last played in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2018 across Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Notably, India has won the championship for the last two times.

It is now learned that the authorities have decided to conduct the tournament consecutively for the next two years in 2022 and 2023. If reports are to be believed, Pakistan will have the rights to host the 2022 edition of the tournament while Sri Lanka is likely to host the 2023 edition.

Asia Cup won’t be going ahead this year: PCB Chairman

The news regarding suspension started doing rounds ever since Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ehsan Mani  stated that the tournament will be suspended as the final of the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship (WTC) is scheduled around the same time.

“Asia Cup was set to go last year but it got postponed to this year. Right now, it looks like the Asia Cup won’t be going ahead this year as the WTC finals are set to go ahead in June. Sri Lanka had said that they would try to host the tournament in June,” Mani had told reporters in Karachi during a press conference.

“The dates are clashing. We think the tournament would not be going ahead, and we might have to push the tournament to 2023,” he added.

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