Lahore, Jul 16 (IANS): Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Saturday said it will back Sri Lanka in hosting the 2022 Asia Cup from August 27 to September 11 despite civil and political unrest in the country.
Despite the country in acute crisis due to daily power cuts, rising fuel prices and massive shortages of basic essentials like food and medicines which prompted resignation of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled to Singapore via Maldives, Sri Lanka has successfully hosted cricket tours.
Sri Lanka successfully hosted Australia men's team for an all-format tour and are currently hosting Pakistan for two Tests. The women's team also played host to India for a three-match T20I series and three ODIs as well.
In the past, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has affirmed its capability to host the Asia Cup, seen as a major preparation event ahead of Men's T20 World Cup in Australia in October-November.
"Our first preference is to support Sri Lanka and play the Asia Cup there. If this tournament does not take place in Sri Lanka, it will be a huge cricketing and financial loss for them. Australia's recent tour of Sri Lanka went off without any problems.
"Similarly, there have been no issues with the ongoing Pakistan tour of Sri Lanka as we are constantly in touch with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and our embassy in the country. Our discussions with the ACC representatives have suggested that the tournament is on track at the moment as they are monitoring the situation very carefully and we will support their decision," said PCB Chief Executive Faisal Hasnain in a statement.
The Asia Cup was originally scheduled to be held in September 2020, with India entering the competition as defending champions. But the tournament was postponed in July 2020 due to Covid-19 pandemic. It was then rescheduled to take place in Sri Lanka in June 2021, before being postponed to August-September 2022.
Hosts Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh will feature in the tournament and will be joined by another Asian side, which could be either of UAE, Kuwait, Singapore or Hong Kong, to be decided after a qualifying tournament, for which the schedule is yet to be known.
The 2022 Asia Cup will be the 15th edition of the tournament, having started from 1984 in Sharjah. India are the most successful team of the tournament, winning it seven times, including the T20I edition in 2016. Sri Lanka have won the competition five times while Pakistan emerged as the winning team twice.
Pakistan will be hosting the next edition of Asia Cup in 2023, which will be a 50-over competition ahead of the Men's ODI World Cup to be hosted by India. "The 50-over Asia Cup next year will be quite significant for us as it will be in preparation of our facilities and venues for the ICC Champions Trophy in 2025. Moreover, the Asia Cup will serve as a warm-up for the participating teams for the ICC Cricket World Cup later that year in India," concluded Hasnain.