Coronavirus: Asia Cup postponed
Last updated on February 14th, 2023 at 11:46 am
The Asia Cup scheduled to take place in September in Sri Lanka has been cancelled as of 2020 in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is looking at a window in June 2021 to host the tournament.
The officials have also raised eyebrows on Indian Premier League(IPL) being considered to take place in the month of September. The way things are shaping right now, in terms of the spurge in COVID-19 cases in India and all around the world, IPL may not be the best decision to go ahead with. At least this is what officials think.
As of the Asia Cup, it was to be held in Sri Lanka after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) offered to swap hosting rights and it was to feature the four subcontinent sides along with Afghanistan and an Asian qualifier.
“Travel restrictions, country-specific quarantine requirements, fundamental health risks and social distancing mandates have posed 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.”
This was officially announced a day after Board of Cricket Council of India (BCCI) president and former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly had unofficially announced it via his social media platform.
Read: Gold smuggling case in Kerala turns political
Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) officials have speculated that this announcement coming form Ganguly means that BCCI wanted the postponement of the tournament, originally scheduled to be held in Pakistan, and it was not completely the organisers call. Nevertheless, with the postponement/ cancellation of this tournament this year, one more name has been added to the list of numerous sporting events(including the Olympics) all around the world that were cancelled due to the pandemic.
