Picture Credit: Twitter/SLC
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has raised their doubts to the Sri Lanka Cricket about the upcoming Asia Cup being held in Colombo and Kandy amid civil unrest in the country due to the economic crisis.
The Asia Cup is the Asian Cricket Council’s premier event and India was supposed to host the contest this year. But the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) requested India for the hosting rights of the tournament and hence a change of venue took place.
As reported by the Sri Lankan news website The Island, an SLC official said, “BCCI has raised concerns about civil unrest in the country and if the tournament is interrupted, we would lose a sum to the tune of US$ 6 million. However, we indicated that protests around the country against the government have been peaceful. We are keeping our fingers crossed.”
It has already been communicated by ACC President Jay Shah that the final decision on the Asia Cup will be taken just before the IPL 2022 Finals. Shah has invited Officials from Sri Lanka to India for the IPL Finals to take the final decision about the Asia Cup. But Dubai has emerged as the alternate venue.
The ACC, in their Annual General Meeting in Colombo on March 19, issued a statement discussing the specifics of the Asia Cup that will start on 27 August to 11 September with the Qualifiers scheduled from 20 August.
The statement said, “Sri Lanka Cricket is geared to host this edition of the ACC’s much-awaited marquee tournament after 4 long years. The tournament is set to take place between 27th August - 11th September 2022. The Qualifiers for the tournament will accordingly be held from 20th August 2022 onwards.”
Sri Lanka Cricket has named Colombo and Kandy as the host cities for the event with RPS and Pallekele as the two venues for the event. Similarly, Sri Lanka hasn’t hosted a multi-nation tournament since hosting the 2012 World T-20 World Cup.
As Sri Lanka is suffering some of its worst economic crises leading to riots and protests, Former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga has voiced his thoughts as he said, “I am very scared. I don’t want people to start another war, which we suffered for 30 years.”
“Some of the politicians who are in the government are trying to show that this is created by Tamils and Muslims. By doing that, they (government) are trying to divide this country again,” he said."