Asia Cup is set to be played after 4 years. The last tournament took place in 2018, where India emerged as the winning side. Now, the Asia cup is set to take place in August-September this year. The schedule and venue were released some time back. The matches were supposed to take place from August 27 to September 11 in Sri Lanka. However, now Sri Lanka is undergoing a grave economic crisis. Therefore, as per reports, India will host Asia Cup 2022.
Asia Cup has been played between 10 countries, administrated by the Asian Cricket Council. The 2022 edition will be the 15th edition of the tournament. However, this edition will feature 6 nations. Since 2009, the Cup is played biennially in ODI and T20I formats on a rotation basis. India is the most successful team with 7 titles. This year, the Cup will be played as T20Is. This would give a good warm-up to the nations prior to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The WC will be played in Australia, starting 22nd October.
Also read: ICC T20 World Cup 2022 Fixtures announced; India to face Pakistan on Oct 23
India set to host Asia Cup 2022
According to reports, the ongoing crisis wouldn’t allow the Asia Cup to be held in Sri Lanka. However, there has not been any official announcement yet. Further, the final decision is said to be taken at the ICC meeting. Moreover, the reports speculate the venue to be shifted to India. With UAE as a second option.
” The final call on change of the venue will be taken at the quarterly meeting of the International Cricket Council [ICC] scheduled to take place in Dubai on Sunday.”
Sources [Cricket Pakistan]
The Asia Cup 2022 will feature 6 teams. Namely- India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. However, the 6th time has not been decided yet. A qualifying tournament will be played for the 6th team.
Sri Lanka crisis
Sri Lanka is undergoing an unprecedented economic crisis. The administration is under huge commercial debt and there is a rampant shortage of essential goods. In addition, the forex reserves have depleted dramatically. Moreover, there are power cuts too. India is supplying food and fuel to Sri Lanka under its ‘neighborhood first policy’.
