• Tournament most likely to be held in UAE 

By Revatha S. Silva The 18th Asia Cup cricket tournament is likely to start in Sri Lanka on Wednesday, 24 August 2022, three days before its previously scheduled start. However, Sri Lanka might lose its hosting rights due to the ongoing civil unrest, stemming from an unprecedented economic and political crisis that reached a violent level during the past three months or so. In the present context, what is the likelihood of Sri Lank hosting the significant tournament? “It could be fifty-fifty,” said a Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Ex-co official yesterday (30). “Shammi Silva is still in India. They were there for the IPL (Indian Premier League 2022) final. They would have had discussions with the President of BCCI (Sourav Ganguly, President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India [BCCI]) and Chairman of the ACC (Jay Shah, Chairman of the Asian Cricket Council [ACC], the organisers of the Asia Cup). So, only once they conclude those discussions will we get to know exactly what is going to happen,” the official further added. Asia Cup going to UAE Meanwhile, another SLC source confirmed last evening, on the condition of anonymity, that the tournament “will most probably be held in the UAE”, and not in Sri Lanka. This could very well mean that Sri Lanka’s volatile economic and political situation may take a huge toll in the sports sphere. The informed source had earlier revealed that losing the Asia Cup hosting rights will incur sizable losses to SLC, mainly in the form of television rights money, but the ACC is likely to make some damage-control by paying compensation to the event’s original hosts SLC, it was also learnt. Asia Cup’s start advanced by three days Originally the six-nation Twenty20 International (T20I) tournament, which usually features a much-anticipated and mouth-watering India vs. Pakistan clash, was scheduled to be held from 27 August to 11 September in Sri Lanka. “Adjustments in the dates are made following a request received by the SLC Board from a couple of participating teams, including Pakistan, on the possible clash of international fixtures. Pakistan is to host England for seven T20Is in the latter part of September,” CricTracker (India) said yesterday. “If Asia Cup goes ahead on the new dates of 24 August and ends on 7 September, it would be perfect dates from Pakistan’s perspective as the team will be back home well in time for the start of the T20 series against England,” the above report had further added. England are scheduled to tour Pakistan during September to December this year for three Tests and seven T20Is, yet the final schedule of the ten matches are not yet out. Postponements and venue changes The top brass SLC delegates, including its President Shammi Silva, are currently in India where they had been invited to attend the IPL 2022 final that was staged on Sunday (29) in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The 2022 Asia Cup, the 15th edition of the traditionally biennial tournament which alternates every two years between One-Day International (ODI) and T20I formats, was set to be held earlier in September 2020. Then the tournament was postponed in July 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic which broke out early that year. It was then rescheduled to take place in Sri Lanka in June 2021, before being postponed once again. Indian dominance Initially it was Pakistan who were scheduled to host the tournament after retaining the rights to host the 2022 edition. However, in October last year, the ACC announced that Sri Lanka would host the tournament in 2022, with Pakistan hosting the Asia Cup 2023 edition. India are the defending champions, having won the title in 2018 in the UAE, beating Bangladesh in the final. India have so far won the tournament seven times out of the 14 occasions it has been held before. Six participants Sri Lanka have won the Asia Cup five times, all in the ODI format, in the years 1986, 1997, 2004, 2008, and 2014. Pakistan is the only other country to win the Asia Cup, having won it twice so far. The six participating countries in the Asia Cup this time will be Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the winner of the Qualifier tournament, to be held just prior to the main tournament among the UAE, Kuwait, Singapore, and Hong Kong.