The fate of the Asia Cup for this year seems to be in danger as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is considering not sending the Indian team to participate in the multi-national tournament, as per a report in Times of India. The Asia Cup was initially scheduled to take place in last year but the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown across the world forced the organisers to postpone it to the current year.
However, Indian team is in serious contention to make it to the World Test Championship final to be played in England and the board believes that it can clash with the schedule of the Asia Cup.
“Further, the Asia Cup – even if it was scheduled – would’ve probably been played around the same time as the ICC Test Championship final. If India don’t make the final, the industry would’ve preferred the Asia Cup instead. Now, the chance of such a thing happening look bleak so it’s a kind of catch-22 right now,” TOI quoted an official aware of the development as saying.
The TOI report cites an unnamed BCCI official to claim that the board is also mulling to organise bilateral series at home against teams such as New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka in order to compensate the broadcaster’s loss of revenue due to the absence of Indian team in the continental tournament.
India are the defending champions of the Asia Cup held last time in 2018 in the United Arab Emirates. They had defeated Bangladesh in the finals by seven wickets to lift the cup.
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