The postponed Asia Cup 2021 will be held in 2023, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has announced.
Earlier, the tournament, which was scheduled to be held in June this year in Sri Lanka, was indefinately postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic spread in the South Asia region, particularly in the Indian sub-continent.
The ACC said that the tournament cannot be held at any earlier date due to the lack of a window for it during a packed cricket calendar.
“It would therefore only be feasible for this edition of the tournament to be held in 2023 as there is already an Asia Cup in 2022. Dates for the same will be confirmed in due course,” said the ACC in a statement.
“The ACC Executive Board, in face of the risks and restrictions posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, had made the difficult decision to postpone the Asia Cup 2020 to 2021. Since then, the ACC has been working with its participants and stakeholders to try and ensure that the event is held in the year,” said the ACC.
“However, on account of a packed FTP [Future Tours Programme], it has been concluded that there is no practical window in the year when all the teams would be available to participate. The Board has accordingly considered the matter very carefully and determined that the only way ahead would be to postpone the event,” it added.
Significantly, the tournament was originally scheduled to be held in Pakistan but due to the BCCI’s unwillingness to send Tema India to the neighbouring country, the event was shifted to Sri Lanka. Later, the event was scheduled to be held in September 2020 in Sri Lanka however, the tournament was postponed due to the pandemic.