Picture Credit: Twitter/SLC
The 15th edition of Asia Cup 2022 featuring highly-competitive South Asian nations is set to take place in UAE. The event will kick start with Sri Lanka, the official host of the T20 tournament taking on Afghanistan in Dubai. Meanwhile, the second match of the tournament will bring an action-packed contest with Team India going up against arch-rival Pakistan on August 28 in Dubai.
Earlier, the T20I tournament was supposed to take place in Sri Lanka, but due to prevailing economic crisis and political turmoil in the South Asian nation, the tournament was moved to the United Arab Emirates. In the latest development, the Sri Lanka Cricket has revealed that the Asia Cup was moved from Sri Lanka as a result of logistical and security concerns, problems obtaining insurance and other factors brought up by sponsor and broadcaster.
While briefing the media, SLC Secretary Mohan de Silva informed that the board thought that the environment in Sri Lanka was not favorable to garner the confidence of the stakeholders. "A tournament of such stature requires all the stakeholders, such as member nations, broadcaster, sponsor etc. on one page. They believed that the unfavorable publicity spread over the world due to the long lines for gas and other issues did not help our cause," said Secretary.
The Secretary of Sri Lankan Cricket board further shared that the challenging situation made it tough for sponsors to obtain insurance.
"It was problematic for TV teams to visit Sri Lanka because of security concerns. The representatives from the other nations wanted to go but were not read to do so," added Ashley de Silva, CEO of SLC. The Chief Executive Officer further revealed that delay in scheduling the Lanka Premier League added more doubts in the minds of investors and sponsor.