ACC president Jay Shah says the decision to shift the venue to the UAE was taken after much deliberation
Earlier, the Asian Cricket Council announced a schedule for the upcoming Asia Cup, beginning on August 27. The mega event will be arranged by Sri Lanka in the UAE after the tournament was moved out of Sri Lanka due to the ongoing economic crisis in the country.
Earlier, the Asian Cricket Council announced a schedule for the upcoming Asia Cup, beginning on August 27. The mega event will be arranged by Sri Lanka in the UAE after the tournament was moved out of Sri Lanka due to the ongoing economic crisis in the country.
India and Pakistan will play the tournament clash on August 28 in Dubai. The first match of the tournament will be played between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
“They felt that the situation in Sri Lanka was not conducive to garnering the confidence of the stakeholders. Not only the member countries, but a tournament of this magnitude require other stakeholders, like the broadcasters, sponsors, etc,”
ESPNcricinfo quoted SLC secretary Mohan de Silba as saying during a media briefing.
“What they felt was that the negative publicity shown all over the world, with the petrol queues and all that, didn’t help our cause,”
he added.
Further talking about the Asia Cup, SEL CEO Ashley de Silva said:
“Sponsors were finding it difficult to get insured, and the security clearance for broadcast crews to enter Sri Lanka was also an issue. The delegates who wanted to come from the other countries also weren’t prepared to come.”
Earlier, while announcing the move of shifting the Asia Cup from Sri Lanka to UAE, the Asian Cricket Council President Jay Shah said:
“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.”
“We were looking forward to hosting our Asian neighbors 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.
