After the 2021 edition of the Asia Cup was called off, Pakistan are likely to host the Asia Cup 2022, as per a report in ESPN Cricinfo. The Sri Lankan cricket board has finally called off the tournament citing the emergence of COVID-19 cases in the island nation. The tournament was postponed last year due to the same reason.
Meanwhile, as per the current scenario, it appears that the Asia Cup which is generally played once in two years will be played back to back in 2022 and 2023. Pakistan are most likely to hist the Asia Cup 2022 edition while Sri Lanka, the 2023 edition. It remains to be seen what will be BCCI’s stand if the hosting rights for the 2022 edition are awarded to Pakistan once again.
This year’s Asia Cup was set to be a T20 competition to provide practice for all participating teams ahead of the T20 World Cup 2021 in October. India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Malaysia were the teams scheduled to take part in the tournament.
Also Read: Asia Cup 2021 Called Off Amid COVID-19 Fears: Reports
Meanwhile, with all nations having their own franchise T20 leagues the rescheduling of events becomes a hard task keeping the international calendar in mind. Meanwhile, PCB Chief Ehsan Mani had spoken after reports of Pakistan hosting Asia Cup 2022 became public.
Pakistan Likely Hosts For Asia Cup 2022
“Asia Cup was set to go last year but it got postponed to this year. Right now, it looks like 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. The dates are clashing. We think the tournament would not be going ahead, and we might have to push the tournament to 2023” Mani had told reporters.
The last edition of the Asia Cup was played in 2018 in Bangladesh. India won the tournament under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy beating the hosts in the final. India have won the last two editions of the tournament.
