The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) held a meeting on Thursday, 9th July, as a consequence of which it has been finalized that the Asia Cup 2020 will take place in the window of June 2021.
In short, the tournament has been called off and there is no more Asia Cup to be held in September. The decision was deferred for so long and finally, the ACC has made their confirmed words.
Amidst the Coronavirus, there has been no cricket for the last few months. International Cricket marked its resume on 7th July as England played the Day 1 of the home-series test match against West Indies after 117 days behind closed doors. Still, Asia Cup, being a mega-tournament, cannot be dragged behind closed doors without spectators.
Also, there are many countries that are still suffering with the rising cases of the Coronavirus along with the travel restrictions. Traveling and correlate assets have marked a full stop in front of the pre-planned schedule of Asia Cup and the tournament is likely to be staged next year.
However, Pakistan, that got the hosting rights, had already swapped them with the Sri Lanka Cricket Board amidst the Indo-Pak tensions. Notably, Sourav Ganguly, the president of BCCI already revealed on Wednesday about the cancelation of Asia Cup 2020.
Asia Cup 2020 called off officially
“Travel restrictions, country-specific quarantine requirements, fundamental health risks, and social distancing mandates have posed as substantial challenges to holding the Asia Cup,” read a statement from the ACC. “Above all, the risks related to health and safety of participating players, support staff and commercial partners, fans, and the cricketing community were deemed to be significant.”
