Sri Lanka’s continued political and economic crisis has left cricket administrators with no choice but to move the upcoming Asia Cup tournament to the UAE.
Whilst the island nation has been able to successfully host bi-lateral series against Australia and Pakistan, the Asian Cricket Council has come to the decision that hosting a multi-nation tournament ‘were a touch too much’ given the limited resources available in the country.
Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley De Silva recently spoke with ESPNCricinfo, stating that “hosting two teams is not the same as hosting ten teams.”
De Silva highlighted the logistical and financial challenges that would come if Sri Lanka was to host the Asia Cup.
He mentioned that “you have to provide ten buses with fuel for all of them. You have to give every team a luggage van with fuel, and transport for the managers. You also have to give the sponsors transport and ensure that they are getting the mileage that they want from their sponsorship. The fuel for the generators to run the floodlights will also have to be found."
The ICC formally announced the UAE as the new venue for the Asia Cup, after consultations with the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) confirmed that this would be the most appropriate location.
In an apologetic statement made on Asian Cricket Council News, President Mr. Jay Shah expressed his sympathies
“Every effort was made to host the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka and the decision to shift the venue to the UAE was taken after much deliberation. The UAE will be the new venue while Sri Lanka will continue to retain hosting rights," Shah said.
"This edition of the Asia Cup is extremely important as it will help Asian nations prepare for the ICC World Cup, and I thank the SLC and the Emirates Cricket Board for their understanding and cooperation.”
Given the ongoing monsoon rainy season sweeping the rest of the Indian subcontinent the UAE was deemed the best place to relocate the six-nation Twenty20 competition, despite August to September being a time of extreme temperatures well above 40 degrees Celsius in Dubai.
The 2022 Asia Cup will feature six countries with Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan gaining automatic qualification. UAE, Kuwait, Singapore and Hong Kong will play a qualifying round with the winner taking up the sixth place in the tournament.
The tournament is to be played from 27th August to 11th September, with most of the participating countries also using this competition as a determining factor to select their final squads for the men’s Twenty20 Cricket World happening later in October in Australia.
