The postponement of Asia Cup has put Afghanistan Cricket Board under great pressure. The Asian Cricket Council announced on July 9 that they are contemplating somewhere in June 2021 to hold the mega event as the tournament is postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic outbreak.
Recently, the chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ehsan Mani said that the postponement of Asia Cup will observe a considerable economic impact on the developing cricket nations. Afghanistan Cricket Board’s chief executive seems to agree with Mani.
“It is obvious that the postponement of Asia Cup will have a negative financial impact on ACB’s revenue this year. However, since the event has not been cancelled and is rather postponed so we expect to receive the allocated funds next year,” said Luftullah Stanikzai.
ACB has currently reduced the income of their foreign country coaching staff by 50 percent for the month of June, blaming it on the Covid-19 pandemic, and is likely to be the same for the upcoming months, given they were banking on Asia Cup and a five-match T20 series against Zimbabwe, which isn’t a part of Future Tours Programme (FTP).
Afghanistan Cricket Board is also reviewing a possible pay cut on the salaries of contracted players. The list comprises 32 senior male cricketers and 55 domestic players.
Four participating nations of the Asia Cup – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, receive around two million USD as participation fees and though Afghanistan was not set to get the same amount, they were expecting to receive a sizable portion for taking part in the tournament.
The ACB is bracing for the worse with doubts hovering over the men’s T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in Australia later this year.
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