Asia Cup moved out of Sri Lanka due to the ongoing political crisis, U.A.E announced as the new host

After keeping the fans waiting for a long time, the venue for the upcoming Asia cup has been finalised with the tournament set to be played in UAE. Asia Cup was earlier expected to be hosted in Sri Lanka but has been shifted out of the country due to the ongoing political and economic crisis in the nation. There were dark clouds hovering over the tournament’s hosting in Sri Lanka but to Sri Lanka Cricket’s good luck, the country has managed to retain the rights for the tournament. The situation is similar to India remaining the host of the 20-20 world cup 2021 despite the tournament being moved out of the country due to Covid.

"Considering the prevailing situation in Sri Lanka, the ACC after extensive deliberation has unanimously concluded that it would be appropriate to relocate the tournament from Sri Lanka to the UAE," the ACC said in a statement. "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," ACC president Jay Shah was quoted as saying.

The dates for the tournament were already confirmed as it was scheduled to take place from August 24 to September 11. A total of six teams will be seen participating in the tournament namely Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. One more team will confirm their spot after the Qualifier round which will be played just a few days before the actual tournament starts. The qualifier round will see four teams battle against each other which are UAE, Kuwait, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

"We were really looking forward to hosting our Asian neighbours in Sri Lanka for the much-anticipated Asia Cup. While I fully stand by the ACC's decision to shift the Asia Cup to UAE considering the current context and the magnitude of the event, Sri Lanka Cricket will work closely with the ACC and Emirates Cricket Board to ensure that we still have an exciting edition of the Asia Cup," Sri Lanka Cricket chief Shammi Silva said.

The entire schedule of the Asia Cup is expected to be out in a few days. India are the current title holders of the Asia cup. They have also won the coveted trophy most times having won the seven editions of the tournament out of the total 14 editions so far. Sri Lanka have five titles to their name while Pakistan have two.