Asia Cup 2021 Officially Postponed To 2023 Due To Packed International Calendar
Updated - 09 Feb 2023, 12:15 AM
The Asia Cup scheduled for 2021 has been postponed officially to 2023 due to the packed international schedule of all the four major Asian nations- India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. The 2021 edition of the tournament was to be hosted by Sri Lanka this year, which had been postponed from 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) confirmed in a statement on May 23, that the tournament has been pushed back to 2023. The Asia Cup T20 tournament was to take place in June; was in the doldrums, with the COVID-19 increasing in the Island nation.
The ACC Board Has Considered The Matter Very Carefully And Has Decided To Postpone Asia Cup 2021
Pakistan was scheduled to host the 2020 edition of the tournament, but it was postponed due to the COVID pandemic and was moved to Sri Lanka. However, rising Coronavirus cases in the island nation meant that the Sri Lanka cricket board had to cancel this year’s edition keeping in mind the safety of the players involved.
“The Board has accordingly considered the matter very carefully and determined that the only way ahead would be to postpone the event. It would therefore only be feasible for this edition of the tournament to be held in 2023 as there is already an Asia Cup in 2022. Dates for the same will be confirmed in due course,” the ACC said in the statement.
The ACC Executive Board after careful evaluation has made the decision to postpone the 2021 edition of the Asia Cup to 2023.
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— AsianCricketCouncil (@ACCMedia1) May 23, 2021
The rescheduling of matches of all the four big Asian nations leaves no viable window for the Asia Cup to happen in 2021. Sri Lanka also plans to play their Lankan Premier League in August, while Bangladesh’s BPL is also set for later in the year. Pakistan will likely host the 2022 tournament, and Sri Lanka the 2023 iteration.
Pakistan and India look to complete the remainder of their domestic T20 leagues the Pakistan Super League (PSL 2021) and Indian Premier League (IPL 2021), which were halted midway due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
India has won the last two editions of the Asia Cup- the T20 version in 2016, which was played in Bangladesh, and the ODI version in 2018, which was hosted in UAE by the BCCI.
