The Asian Cricket Council is planning a window in June 2021 to hold the Asia Cup while announcing on Thursday (July 9) that the tournament, which was scheduled to be held in September this year in United Arab Emirates with Pakistan to host tournament, has been postponed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The ACC also announced that the Pakistan Cricket Board, which was supposed to host the 2020 event, has exchanged the hosting rights with Sri Lanka Cricket, while the PCB will host the 2022 event.

The announcement comes a day after BCCI president Sourav Ganguly revealed in an Instagram chat that the event was cancelled.

During an ACC meeting in June, the possibility of holding the tournament in Sri Lanka emerged. However, wary of the COVID-19 situation and with the event involving multiple countries, the ACC decided to play it safe.

“The Executive Board of the ACC has met on multiple occasions to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Asia Cup tournament scheduled in September 2020,” stated the ACC in a media release. “From the onset the Board was keen on organising the tournament as per the original schedule. However, travel restrictions, country-specific quarantine requirements, threat to fundamental health and social distancing mandates have posed substantial challenges to the holding of the Asia Cup.

Through this arrangement, the SLC will now host the rescheduled Asia Cup expected in June 2021, while the PCB will host the 2022 edition.

“The ACC is currently working towards securing June 2021 as a suitable window for the same.”

While the postponement was on the cards for the longest time, Ganguly stealing away the thunder from PCB bosses Ehsan Mani and Wasim Khan by announcing the decision one day earlier didn’t go down well with the two top men in Pakistan cricket.