Sri Lanka to host Asia Cup 2020 in September

By Shamseer Jaleel

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) was approved to host the Asia Cup during September 2020. SLC received the confirmation from the Asia Cricket Council (ACC) to host the T20 tournament recently.

Initially, Pakistan and United Arab Emirates (UAE) were to host the event, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is not fully settled either in Pakistan and UAE, the ACC has decided to award it to Sri Lanka. Another reason Sri Lanka has received the nod from ACC is because India is very unlikely to tour Pakistan due to their political differences between the two nations. Sri Lanka, who have COVID-19 under better control, will be opening Bandaranaike International Airport for tourist arrivals on 1 August.

2020 Asia Cup will see 6 teams, including 5 full member teams such as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, along with an associate member who will be selected via a Qualifier tournament which is scheduled to be held in Malaysia in the near future. India are the defending champions of this event.