Sri Lanka Cricket very confident of hosting Asia Cup amid political turmoil

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has exuded confidence in hosting the Asia Cup 2022 which is scheduled to be played from August 27 to September 11 despite the ongoing political and economic crisis in the country. The last few months witnessed the Sri Lankan public expressing their concern by the way of protests due to political unrest in the country as a result of inflation.

Sri Lanka had successfully hosted Australia in an all-format bilateral series that was played for a span of 35 days and will be hosting Pakistan in a two-match Test series starting Saturday, July 16. Earlier, there were a lot of rumors stating that Sri Lanka would be losing the hosting rights of this year’s Asia Cup due to tensions in the island nation.

We have just hosted the Australian tour, Pakistan is in the country: SLC Secretary

“As far as we are concerned, we are still very confident of hosting the tournament in Sri Lanka,” said  Mohan de Silva, secretary at Sri Lanka Cricket while speaking to  ESPNcricinfo.

“We have just hosted the Australian tour with two Tests in Galle, and Pakistan are in the country as well,” he added.

At the same time, it has also been learned that a final decision on whether Sri Lanka would be retained as the hosts for the 15th edition of the Asia Cup will be taken by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) on Friday, July 15.

The upcoming edition of the Asia Cup will be played between six teams. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka are the five teams in the main draw. The sixth team will be determined by who wins the Qualifiers that will be played from August 20 to 26.  Hong Kong, Kuwait, Singapore, and the UAE are the participants in the Qualifiers.

The 2022 edition of the Asia Cup will be played in the T20 format as a dress rehearsal for the T20 World Cup that is scheduled to be played Down Under in October-November. India are the defending champions.