Twenty20 to be the format of 2016 Asia Cup

The 2016 edition of Asia Cup is all set to see a change in the format as the organisers are mulling over conducting it in a Twenty20 format. This decision is considered because the Asian Cricket Council wants its member nations to get some valuable match practice ahead of the 2016 World T20 that is scheduled to take place in India next year.

Asian Cricket Council Chief Executive Ashraful Haq, in an interview to cricket.com.au revealed that next year’s Asia Cup will be a Twenty20 event and the venue is yet to be decided. Since the World T20 will be hosted by India, they could be the hosts for Asia Cup too. Ashraful also added that associate nations will also be a part of the tournament.

He also added that the tournament will be back to 50 over format in 2018 citing the 2019 World Cup and in 2020, it will be Twenty20 again.

As there is a World Twenty20 tournament in 2016, the Asia Cup next year will also be of Twenty20 Internationals in February or March. The host country has not been decided yet. Bangladesh hosted the previous two Asia Cups in 2014 and 2012. There may be one or two teams from Associate nations as well. They could join India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the main tournament after playing a qualifying round. The Asia Cup will return to an ODI format in 2018 with the biennial event set to mirror the format of the major ICC event that follows. It’s a change that will allow Asia Cup contestants to fine-tune for World Cups with in a major regional competition. The year 2020 will again see the tournament in Twenty20 format and there will be another ODI (50-over) Asia Cup in 2022, Ashraful said.