INDIA, Pak will play in 2020 Asia Cup in UAE: Saurav Ganguly
BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has confirmed that India and Pakistan with other qualified nations will partake in Asia Cup 2020 to be played in Dubai.Pakistan was to host the championship in the Islamist country in September. The venue has to be changed following India’s unwillingness to play in the country owing to security reasons. India emerged the champion defeating Bangladesh by three wickets when UAE had hosted the 2018 tournament. The 2020 Asia Cup will be the 15th edition of the Asia Cup cricket tournament. The matches will be played as Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is).India are the defending champions. It was established in 1983 when the Asian Cricket Council was founded to promote goodwill between Asian nations. The first Asia cup was held in 1984 at Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates . India boycotted the 1986 tournament due to strained cricketing relations with Sri Lanka. Pakistan boycotted the 1990-91 tournament due to strained political relations with India and the next tournament was cancelled for the same reason. Asia cup is played every two years on a rotation basis between One Day International and Twenty20 International format. Gulf News says India, with seven titles (six ODI and one T20), is the most successful team in the tournament. Sri Lanka is the second most successful team, with five. Sri Lanka has played the most Asia Cups (14) followed by India and Pakistan who have played 13 each. The 2018 Asia Cup in the UAE was a huge success with almost all the matches played to a packed stadium. K.R. Nayar citing source says that ACC are aware that India will not tour Pakistan but wants all the Asian countries to play in the tournament. “To ensure that the defending champions India do play in this edition, ACC will ask Pakistan to host the event in UAE.”Incidentally, the 2018 Asia Cup was originally allotted to India but BCCI agreed to the Asian Cricket Council to play in the UAE due to the political tension between India and Pakistan. The BCCI was aware that there will be huge protest in India if matches against Pakistan were held in India. “Discussions are on to ensure shifting of the tournament from Pakistan to the UAE and the final decision on the matter can be expected soon,” Nayar said. The six countries which have confirmed participation are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.They have also announced their squads.
(Edited by PK Chakravarty)
