The Asia Cup 2022 originally scheduled to be held in Srilanka has now been shifted to the United Arab Emirates. This has been confirmed by BCCI President Saurav Ganguly on Thursday. The reason for this venue change is due to the economic and political crisis hitting the island nation. Srilanka is facing the biggest financial crisis since its existence. The President and Prime Minister have resigned from their post. The protesters also trespassed into the Presidential Palace a couple of weeks ago. Analysing the turmoil and the unrest, the Asia cricket council took this decision.
“Asia Cup will be in UAE, as it is the only place where there won’t be rains,” Ganguly told reporters after the Board’s Apex Council meeting here.
Additionally, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Wednesday informed the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). They stated their inability to host the upcoming edition of the Asia Cup T20. Because of the grim situation in the country. Moreover, this development has come after the SLC recently postponed the third edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) due to the ongoing crisis.
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SLC gave a shocker
With Sri Lanka successfully hosting Australia for a full tour, it seemed initially that the Asia Cup would happen in the country. However, in the past few days, the political situation there has changed dramatically with their President reportedly leaving and being replaced by a new one. With UAE hosting, it will be the second successive occasion that the Asia Cup will be held in the Gulf nation after 2018. In that edition, India lifted the trophy beating Bangladesh in the final.
“In such a scenario, it is being felt that hosting the championship is not appropriate,”
CRICBUZZ QUOTED AN ACC OFFICIAL AS SAYING.
Asia Cup is scheduled to be held from August 27 to September 11 and will be played in the T20 format this edition.
