The 2022 edition of the Asia Cup will be held in the UAE, instead of Sri Lanka as had been planned earlier, the Asian Cricket Council announced on July 27. The decision comes as a result of the ongoing political turmoil in Sri Lanka. Notably, the island nation retains the hosting rights for the T20I competition to be played between August 27 and September 11.
“Every effort was made to host the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka and the decision to shift the venue to the UAE was taken after much deliberation. The UAE will be the new venue while Sri Lanka will continue to retain hosting rights,”
Jay Shah, the ACC president, was quoted as saying in a press release
Sri Lanka recently hosted Australia for an all-format series and Pakistan for two Tests, as well as India women for T20Is and ODIs. However, things have changed significantly over the last few days, with president Gotabaya Rajapaksa having fled and prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe being elected as a replacement. The country finds itself in the midst of one of its worst economic crises, with wild protests being carried throughout.
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The Sri Lanka Cricket board acknowledged the ACC’s decision, given the situation in the country.
“We were really looking forward to hosting our Asian neighbours in Sri Lanka for the much-anticipated Asia Cup.”
While I fully stand by the ACC’s decision to shift the Asia Cup to UAE considering the current context and magnitude of the event, Sri Lanka cricket will work closely with the ACC and the Emirates Cricket Board to ensure that we still have an exciting edition of the Asia Cup,”
SLC chairman Shammi Silva said.
The Asia Cup 2022 will feature nine teams, four of which – UAE, Kuwait, Singapore and Hong Kong – will compete in a qualifying round.
The winner will join Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan in the tournament major. The last edition in 2018 was played in an ODI format in the UAE, with India winning their seventh title.
