Asia Cup will be in UAE, confirms Ganguly

The upcoming edition of the Asia Cup will be held in the United Arab Emirates instead of Sri Lanka, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly confirmed.

Asia Cup, which will be in T20 format this year due to the World Cup scheduled later, was supposed to be held in Sri Lanka from August 27 to September 11.

But Ganguly, after BCCI’s Apex Council meeting on Thursday, confirmed that the tournament will be in UAE.

“Asia Cup will be in UAE, as it is the only place where there won’t be rains,” he told the media.

Due to the political and economic turmoil going on in the country, Sri Lanka Cricket on Wednesday informed the Asian Cricket Council that they are in no position to hold the event. They have also postponed the third edition of the Lanka Premier League, which was scheduled for later this year.

“Sri Lankan cricket has conveyed that due to the existing political and economic situation in their country, especially where foreign exchange is concerned, it is not an ideal situation for them to host such a mega-event of six teams in the island,” an ACC source was quoted as saying by Times of India.

After that, Bangladesh emerged as a possible alternate venue, but it was not considered as original host Sri Lanka would get all the income from the event. Also, due to the monsoon season in Bangladesh, the weather is a big concern as matches may be abandoned due to rain.

The Asia Cup’s last edition was also held in UAE in 2018, where India came out as Champions after narrowly beating Bangladesh in the final.

The last Asia Cup held in the T20 format was in 2016, and was hosted by Bangladesh. The Tigers also ended as runners-up that time, with the final defeat coming against India.