PCB Chief Ehsan Mani Confirms The Cancellation Of Asia Cup 2020

Pakistan Cricket Board chief Ehsan Mani has confirmed BCCI President Sourav Ganguly’s claims that the 2020 edition of the Asia Cup stands canceled due to the proliferation of the novel pandemic Covid-19.

Sourav Ganguly, who celebrated his 48th birthday on Wednesday, confirmed the cancellation of Asia Cup T20 during an Instagram live session with Sports Tak journalist Vikrant Gupta.

Asia Cup T20 was supposed to take place in September as a prelude to the 2020 T20 World Cup in October-November. Last month, the Asian Cricket Council [ACC] had met to decide the fate of the tournament but eventually, no decision was taken.

Asia Cup cancel ho chuka hai, jo September me tha (Asia Cup, which was to be held in September, has been cancelled),” Sourav Ganguly told ”sports tak” in an instagram live session

Also Read: 2020 Asia Cup Cancelled, Confirms Sourav Ganguly

 

“The Asian Cricket Council is looking at organizing it next year- PCB Chief Ehsan Mani on the cancellation of Asia Cup 2020

Confirming the development, PCB chief Ehsan Mani said that given the outbreak of the novel pandemic, the ACC has decided to stage the tournament next year. The 2020 edition of the Asia Cup was supposed to be hosted by Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates [UAE] but Mani added that the 2021 edition will now take place in Sri Lanka while Pakistan will host the 2022 edition.

According to Mani, Sri Lanka will now host the 2021 edition while Pakistan will hosts the succeeding tournament.

“The Asian Cricket Council is looking at organising it next year. It is too dangerous to host it this year We had swapped the event with Sri Lanka this year because it is one of the least affected (in South Asia) from the virus,” Ehsan Mani told PTI.

Mani added that there is no politics behind the postponement and that decision was taken purely on safety grounds.

“We were originally going to host it but when I looked at the COVID situation in UAE and Pakistan and other South Asia countries, the only country which was ahead of the cycle was Sri Lanka and most likely to conduct the event,” he added.

“So Sri Lanka Cricket and PCB discussed it, we put the swap proposal to the ACC and it was approved by the board. There was no politics, it was just for sake of preserving cricket and nothing else,” Mani added.

India won the last edition of the Asia Cup which was also staged in the UAE back in 2018.

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