Published: Dec 14, 2018, 08:29 AM (IST)
Edited: Dec 14, 2018, 08:29 AM (IST)
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has won hosting rights for the 2020 Asia Cup, it has been announced, but speculation over which country will host the games remains given the lack of international cricket played in Pakistan since the terror attacks on the visiting Sri Lankan team in 2009.
The 2020 Asia Cup returns to the T20 format, as it was in 2016, and will be played in September – a month before the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia. Since 2009, Pakistan have played almost all their ‘home’ matches in the UAE, barring visits from Zimbabwe, a depleted Sri Lanka and West Indies and a World XI squad last year.
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The PCB also hosted three Pakistan Super League matches in Lahore and Karachi earlier this year, which featured a few international cricketers.
“The 2020 Asia Cup will take place in Pakistan. They will tell us where we’ll be holding it, since they are the hosts. India hosted it last time, but it was held in the UAE,” Nazmul Hassan ACC president said on Thursday.
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The chances of UAE getting the nod remains high, given the amount of teams that have played Pakistan there as well as the fact that the 2018 Asia Cup was successfully held there.
Earlier this year, New Zealand Cricket declined an offer from the PCB to tour Pakistan.
Pakistan are co-hosts of the ongoing Emerging Asia Cup, having hosted all Group B matches featuring Bangladesh, UAE, and Hong Kong and the hosts in Karachi.
