Asia Cup moved to UAE as Sri Lanka boils

Article posted by Coliseum, August 5^th, 2022

Image: Asian Cricket Council

The Twenty20 format Asia Cup has been moved to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) because of the economic and political crisis in Sri Lanka.

‘The Indian Express’ stated that the Asian Cricket Council said recently that it unanimously decided to relocate the tournament scheduled August 27^th to September 11^th.

The Asian Cricket Council Asia Cup is men’s One Day International and Twenty20 international cricket tournament. It was established in 1983 when the Asian Cricket Council was founded as a measure to promote goodwill between the Asian countries. It was originally scheduled to be held every two years. The Asia Cup is the only continental championship in cricket and the winning team becomes the champions of Asia. It alternates every two years between ODI and T20I formats.

Colombo (Sri Lanka)-based the Asian Cricket Council is a cricket organization which was established in 1983 to promote and develop the sport of cricket in Asia. Subordinate to the International Cricket Council (ICC), the Council is the continent’s regional administrative body, and currently consists of 24 member- associations.

‘The Indian Express’ further stated that Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, and Bangladesh will be joined by one more team – UAE, Kuwait, Singapore or Hong Kong.

Sri Lanka Cricket successfully hosted Australia’s tour and is presently hosting Pakistan in a two-Test series. However, Sri Lanka Cricket had to shift the second Test against Pakistan to Galle (Sri Lanka) after the political unrest in its capital Colombo, which was due to host.

The Pakistan vs. Sri Lanka series is being played against the backdrop of Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis since Independence. There is a severe shortage of fuel, medicine and cooking gas and experts have warned of a pending food crisis.

Jay Shah, President of the ACC, said every effort was made to keep the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, and that the decision to shift the venue was made after much deliberation – “This edition of the Asia Cup is extremely important as it will help Asian nations prepare for the ICC World Cup, and I thank the Sri Lanka Cricket and the Emirates Cricket Board for their understanding and cooperation.”

Shammi Silva, President of Sri Lanka Cricket, said that he stood by the decision “Considering the context and magnitude of the event”.

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