Mumbai, India (CU)_ Due to the repeated alterations in the cricket schedule that is continuously liable to change in the midst of an advancing COVID-19 circumstance, the 2021 edition of Asia Cup has been postponed to 2023. The continental tournament for 2021 was transferred from Pakistan to Sri Lanka this year. However, it was canceled due to rising cases in the island country. Due to the tight schedules of all four Asian sides until the end of the year, finding a window for the tournament this year would have been exceedingly challenging. The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) released a statement concerning the current situation.
The statement released by the ACC said, “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”.
According to the planned schedule for this year, a T20 affair in preparation for the T20 World Cup was the tournament that was planned to be held in India in October and November. The Asia Cup has not been held since 2018, and the 2020 tournament has also been suspended due to the surge in pandemics. The last two editions of the tournament have been won by India. The tournament is held every two years.
Faced with the dangers and limitations brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, the ACC Executive Board took the hard decision to postpone the Asia Cup 2020 to 2021. Ever since, the ACC has been in touch with its participants and sponsors, trying hard to schedule the event on track for the remainder of the year. The ACC said in its statement, “However, on account of a packed FTP, it has been concluded that there is no practical window in the year when all the teams would be available to participate”.
