Kolkata: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday confirmed that this year’s Asia Cup has been cancelled in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Asia Cup has been cancelled, Ganguly said during an Instagram chat with Vikrant Gupta.
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 utmost importance. We are monitoring things monthly, the former India captain, who turned 48 on Wednesday, added.
IANS had earlier reported that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had made it clear that the window which suits the PCB doesn’t suit the Indian board.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chief Executive Wasim Khan had said that the Asia Cup will be held either in September or October.
A BCCI functionary in the know of developments had told IANS that the PCB could also look at postponing the Pakistan Super League (PSL) next season and host the multi-nation event in that window. The BCCI can then look at adjusting the calendar accordingly and playing in the Asia Cup.
The Asia Cup was set to be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in September this year before the PCB agreed to let the Sri Lankan cricket board host the tournament.
Ganguly also reiterated that the IPL can happen after a decision is announced by the ICC on the fate of the World T20.
(If the T20 World Cup 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 World Cup 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.”
The ICC is trying their best to stage the T20 World Cup because that brings in a lot of revenue, said Ganguly. “We don’t have a window for IPL yet because we have to play in Australia in December. That’s FTP and we can’t change that. Australia is one country where, apart from Melbourne, things are returning to normal.”