BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, on Wednesday (July 8), has announced that the Asia Cup 2020 has been canceled. The announcement comes ahead of a scheduled Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting 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. “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.”
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The tournament was set to be held in the United Arab Emirates in September this year. Pakistan were to host the tournament but India weren’t willing to travel to Pakistan. The BCCI had earlier stated that it didn’t have a problem with Pakistan hosting the Asia Cup, as long as it was held at a neutral venue.
Ganguly also reiterated the BCCI’s stance that the IPL can happen after a decision is announced by the ICC on the fate of the World T20.
“(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.
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“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.”
CA chairman Earl Eddings has already clarified the ICC T20 World Cup was “unlikely” and “unrealistic”. “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.
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However, the International Cricket Council had deferred a decision for one more month and will meet on July 17 to decide the fate of the tournament. “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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