After months of assumptions and speculations, Asia Cup 2020 has finally been postponed. The event which was scheduled to be played in September this year will now be played during June 2021.
Yesterday BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had already shared that Asia Cup has been called off. However, PCB claimed that the final decision on Asia Cup will only be taken by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC).
Now officially the tournament’s governing body has postponed Asia Cup 2020. ACC is now looking at a window in June 2021 to play the tournament. The governing body published a statement in which they stated that the health and safety of all the players are above all.
“From the onset, the Board was keen on organising the tournament as per the original schedule. However, travel restrictions, country-specific quarantine requirements, fundamental health risks and social distancing mandates have posed as substantial challenges to the holding of the Asia Cup”.
“Above all, the risks related to health and safety of participating players, support staff, commercial partners, fans and the cricketing community were deemed to be significant.
Accordingly, the Board, after careful consideration of all the above factors, has determined that the Asia Cup 2020 be postponed. The ACC is currently working towards securing June 2021 as a suitable window for the same”, ACC said in a statement.
Pakistan was originally scheduled to host the tournament in September this year. However, due to security reasons, few reports suggested Sri Lanka bagged the rights for hosting Asia Cup 2020.
With the tournament now being officially postponed, Sri Lanka will host Asia Cup next year in June 2021. Meanwhile, Pakistan will be the host nation for the Asia Cup in 2022.