'Asia Cup 2020 is cancelled' - Sourav Ganguly feels health of the players is of utmost importance

The COVID-19 outbreak has disrupted the schedule of many sporting events. Be it the T20 World Cup in Australia on the thirteenth edition of the IPL, many tours and tournaments had to be indefinitely postponed in the wake of the pandemic.

Asia Cup 2020, which was set to be held in the UAE in September this year, has also been cancelled in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. Current BCCI president revealed the news of the tournament’s cancellation ahead of a scheduled Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting on July 9.

“Asia Cup has been cancelled,” Ganguly said, without elaborating if this was a decision taken by the ACC, in an Instagram chat with Vikrant Gupta.

Difficult to say which will be India’s first international series: Sourav Ganguly

“It’s difficult to say which will be India’s first international series. We’ve done our preparations but we can’t do much till we know the government rules. We are not in a hurry because the health of players is of the utmost importance. We are monitoring things monthly,” he added.

There has much debate on the feasibility of the Asia Cup in recent times. Pakistan were set to host the showpiece this year but the BCCI wasn’t interested in touring Pakistan. The Indian board had suggested the idea of a neutral venue to host the tournament.

The BCCI had even requested the Pakistan board to push the Asia Cup further to accommodate IPL 2020 in September-October window. To host much-awaited IPL 2020 is the prime objective for the BCCI as the board is set to lose around INR 4000 crore if the league gets called off.

Ganguly, during the interaction, also spilled beans on the feasibility of IPL 2020. According to him, the possibility of this year’s IPL will depend on the fate of the T20 World Cup.

The 16-team mega-event is on the verge of postponement but the ICC hasn’t made any official announcement yet. If the T20 World Cup gets pushed further to next year, the BCCI will try its best to slot the IPL in that window.

“(If the T20 WC gets cancelled) then we will try everything to stage the IPL. It is very important for Indian cricket. We will try to host it in India,” said Ganguly.

“The cancellation of T20 WC will happen soon because all countries are asking for a direction from ICC. We’ll know by mid-July. My gut feeling is saying it’s tough,” he added.

Cricket Australia (CA) chairman Earl Eddings had recently said that hosting the T20 World Cup seems ‘unrealistic’ at the moment. However, the ICC had deferred a decision for one more month and the apex council will meet on July 17 to decide the fate of it.

“It’s a bit of a moving feast at the moment. I’d say it’s unlikely, while it hasn’t been formally called off this year or postponed, trying to get 16 countries into Australia in the current world where most countries are still going through Covid-19 spiking is very, very difficult,” he had said.