Asia Cup Is Cancelled, Says BCCI President Sourav Ganguly

On July 8 (Wednesday), BCCI President Sourav Ganguly announced that the Asia Cup 2020 has been cancelled. The announcement comes ahead of a meeting of the members of Asian Cricket Council (ACC) which is scheduled on July 9.

“Asia Cup has been cancelled,” Ganguly said, without elaborating if this was a decision taken by the ACC, in an Instagram chat with Vikrant Gupta.

When contacted the Pakistan Cricket Board and Bangladesh Cricket Board, they confirmed that they were unaware of the decision from the ACC.

The tournament was all set to be held this September in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this year. Pakistan were willing to host the tournament, however, India were reluctant to travelling to Pakistan. The BCCI had been crystal clear about them not having any issue with Pakistan hosting the tournament, as long as it was to be held in a neutral venue.

“It’s difficult to say which will be India’s first international series. We’ve done our preparations but we can’t do much till we know the government rules. We are not in a hurry because the health of players is of the utmost importance. We are monitoring things monthly,” added Ganguly.

Dada also emphasised on BCCI’s decision about IPL that it can happen only after the decision is announced by ICC on the fate of T20 World Cup, which was originally to be held in Australia, but also seems unlikely to happen.

“(If the T20 World Cup gets cancelled) then we will try everything to stage the IPL. It is very important for Indian cricket. We will try to host it in India,” said Ganguly.

“The cancellation of T20 World Cup will happen soon because all countries are asking for a direction from ICC. We’ll know by mid-July. My gut-feeling is saying it’s tough.”

Cricket Australia’s Chairman Earl Eddings had already clarified that the ICC World T20 was “unlikely” and “unrealistic”, looking at the current Covid-19 pandemic outburst. “It’s a bit of a moving feast at the moment. I’d say it’s unlikely, while it hasn’t been formally called off this year or postponed, trying to get 16 countries into Australia in the current world where most countries are still going through Covid-19 spiking is very, very difficult,” he had said.

However, the International Cricket Council has adjourned the decision for one more month to see where the global pandemic situation stands and will meet on July 17 to take a call on the same.

“The ICC is trying their best to stage the T20 World Cup because that brings in a lot of revenue,” said Ganguly. “We don’t have a window for IPL yet because we have to play in Australia in December. That’s FTP and we can’t change that. Australia is one country where, apart from Melbourne, things are returning to normal.”

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