Asia Cup gets postponed once again, likely to be held in 2022

The Pakistan Cricket Board, on Sunday (April 11) confirmed that the Asia Cup has been postponed to 2022. The 15th edition of the tournament was originally scheduled to be held last year in Pakistan. Later, the venue was changed from Pakistan to Sri Lanka. The tournament was to be played in the second half of the year as a preparatory competition for the T20 World Cup in Australia.

However, the tournament had to be postponed due to COVID-19. And later, the T20 World Cup suffered a similar fate. India later got the rights to host the T20 World Cup while Asia Cup was set to be played in June. But the PCB have now confirmed that the tournament has been postponed once again. The tournament will now take place in 2022.

“PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani briefed the BoG on matters relating to the International Cricket Council as well as this year’s ICC T20 World Cup and the ACC Asia Cup, which has now been postponed to 2022,” a statement from the PCB said.

The last edition of the tournament took place in 2018. The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in India but later the Asian Cricket Council had shifted the venue to the UAE. ACC had to shift the venue after Pakistan stated their discontentment citing the non-issuance of visas to athletes of other sports.

India the most successful team in Asia Cup

India had won the last edition of the competition by beating Bangladesh in the final. The other teams which participated in the competition were – Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Hong Kong, and Afghanistan. With the win, India further extended their domination in the continental championship. No country has managed to win the tournament more than India (7).

The inaugural edition of the Asia Cup took place in 1984 which was won by India too. Sri Lanka is the second most successful side in the competition with 5 titles while Pakistan has won the title twice. With the tournament now postponed this year, the Asian teams would miss out on getting a good preparation ahead of the T20 World Cup.