Asia Cup 2020 is cancelled, confirms BCCI President Sourav Ganguly

The Board of Control for Cricket in India president Sourav Ganguly has confirmed that Asia Cup 2020 is cancelled. Interestingly, Ganguly made the official announcement on Instagram live interaction just before the Asian Cricket Council meeting which is scheduled for July 9. In fact, members of Sri Lankan Cricket and Bangladesh Cricket Board have revealed that they don’t have any idea of such development.

Initially the Asia Cup was to be hosted by Pakistan but India was not willing to travel there due to the growing political tension between the two countries. However, the Indian board was fine with Pakistan hosting the tournament at a neutral venue. Subsequently, UAE was to stage the multi-team tournament.

“Asia Cup has been cancelled,” Ganguly said in an Instagram chat with Vikrant Gupta.

On the other hand, BCB chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhary revealed that they are not aware of such a decision and the ACC is working towards organising the event.

“‘As far as I am concerned ACC management is working on Asia Cup 2020. They are also exploring other options if the tournament cannot be hosted on scheduled time,” BCB chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury told Cricbuzz.

Ganguly added that the Indian board is monitoring the situation closely but they can’t do much till they know about the government rules. The BCCI president is not sure which will be India’s next series. As the country has recorded a spike in the number of cases, it would be difficult for BCCI to host a bilateral series against any country.

“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.

As far as the IPL is concerned, the BCCI is awaiting the decision of ICC on the postponement of the T20 World Cup. The ICC will meet on July 17 and they are expected to defer the global event. This will give a window to BCCI and they can start planning for the IPL. Ganguly confirmed that the first priority is to host the tournament in India.

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