The president of the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) Sourav Ganguly has said that Asia Cup 2020 will be held in Dubai featuring both India and Pakistan.
“Asia Cup will be held in Dubai and both India and Pakistan will play,” Ganguly was quoted saying to a news agency before ACC meeting, scheduled for March 3 in Dubai.
The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) will meet in Dubai next week under its Chairman Nazmul Hassan, with one of the key discussions expected to be around this September’s Asia Cup T20 tournament.
The meeting will take place on 3 March and Pakistan will be represented by their chairman Ehsan Mani, also a former ACC and ICC President.
Last year, the ACC had awarded the Asia Cup to Pakistan, but due to unconstitutional and undemocratic decisions by Narendra Modi’s government in Kashmir as well as on the Line of Control, concerns have grown on the prospects of Pakistan hosting the India cricket team for the competition.
A PCB spokesman confirmed the dates of the ACC meeting, saying: “The ACC meeting will take place in Dubai on 3 March. The meeting agenda includes an update on the Asia Cup T20 tournament. So, we expect there will be some discussions on the staging of the tournament, which is scheduled in September.
Notably, the two countries have not played a bilateral series since 2012 when Pakistan toured India for three ODIs and two T20Is. However, they have regularly played against each other in ICC and ACC events with Pakistan traveling to India for the 2011 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup semi-final, the ICC Women’s World Cup in 2013 as well as the ICC T20 World Cup 2016.
The Asia Cup T20 tournament is also being seen as a preparation event for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which will be staged in Australia from 18 October to 15 November.
Pakistan is ranked No.1 in ICC rankings, while India is fourth, followed by Afghanistan seventh, Sri Lanka eighth and Sri Lanka ninth.
Ehsan Mani will depart for Dubai on Saturday and will return on Saturday, 7 March. Apart from the ACC meeting, he will also attend the ICC Financial and Commercial Affairs committee meeting which he chairs.
Independent experts said the PCB should push to host the event in Pakistan but even if a decision to relocate to the UAE in made, then PCB must accept it.