Pakistan to host Asian Emerging Nations Cup; India to play matches in Sri Lanka

The long shadow of the sour relation between India and Pakistan has once again engulfed cricket. Pakistan is set to host six games of the Asian Emerging Nations Cup in December after India refused to play on its soil citing security reasons. An official of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said that its Indian counterpart – Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)– refused to send its team to Pakistan for the tournament which will see the best emerging talents from Asian countries.

While Pakistan have Bangladesh, UAE and Hong Kong in their group (B) in the tournament and it will see the games to be held in Karachi, India are clubbed with Sri Lanka, Oman and Afghanistan in Group A and its matches will be played in Colombo. The final is also scheduled in Colombo. In Karachi, while three matches will be played at the National Stadium which is undergoing a massive renovation, the other games will be played at the Southend Cricket Stadium, the PCB official said.

Security a top concern for matches in Pakistan

“A proper security plan has been prepared for the visiting teams and they will be given top security throughout their stay in Karachi from December 4 to 10,” the PCB official was quoted as saying. Colombo will host nine matches of the tournament which will be played between December 6 and 15.

India and Bangladesh had objected to Pakistan hosting the tournament in 2018 citing security reasons and PCB said last year that the country got the right at an Asian Cricket Council meeting in Lahore in October last year where representatives from India and Bangladesh were not present.

In 2017, Sri Lanka won the tournament beating Pakistan by 5 wickets in the final. The tournament was held in Bangladesh and eight teams were in the fray in that edition as well. India failed to qualify from the group as they lost to Afghanistan in the net run-rate despite finishing with same points. They defeated Sri Lanka and Malaysia but lost to Afghanistan by 2 wickets.

Get the latest Cricket News and updates, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.