Asia Cup 2020: Much-Awaited Decision On Venue To Be Finalized By March End

The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting for deciding the Asia Cup 2020 venue which was scheduled to be held in Dubai on March 3 was postponed due to the coronavirus scare. Now, the council will meet and finalize the venue in the third week of March.

The impending meeting will once again serve as the decision-ground for the fate of the tournament which will be played in T20 format this year, keeping in mind the World T20 later in the year.

India and Pakistan have strained-relationship owing to the skirmishes, and this has affected the cricketing ties too between both the countries. They have not played bilateral cricket for years now and things don’t seem good in the future too.

Both the countries come up against each other in multi-nation tournaments at neutral venues.

International cricket had been away from Pakistan as the country was marred with terrorism and other national teams did not go to Pakistan, to play bilateral cricket.

However, in recent times, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh had successful tours to the country.

Also, for the first time in history, the premier franchise T20 league tournament of the world, the Pakistan Super League (PSL) is being played entirely in Pakistan since the tournament’s inception.

Asia Cup 2020: India vs Pakistan – The Battle For Venue?

PCB held the rights to conduct the Asia Cup this year and they decided that it will be played in Pakistan.

However, BCCI refused Indian players’ participation if the tournament takes place in Pakistan.

Asia Cup 2020 Venue To Be Finalized Soon:

Speaking to IANS, a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official said that despite the March 3 meeting getting postponed, the situation remains the same as far as the PCB is concerned and only the ACC can take a call on the venue of the tournament.

“The situation hasn’t changed as far as the PCB is concerned. The ACC Board remains the only competent body to make the decision on the venue of the 2020 Asia Cup. We hear the ACC will be meeting later this month. So, we wait to hear more from them,” the official said.

BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had earlier announced that the Asia Cup 2020 will be held in Dubai and both India and Pakistan will take part in the tournament, but the PCB had clarified that only the ACC can decide on the venue of the tournament.

The Asia Cup 2020 will take place in September this year. The last edition of the tournament took place in the year 2018 where India went on to win it under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma.

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