Daily Times

LAHORE: The Asia Cup scheduled for 2021 appears increasingly likely to be postponed, with all four major Asian sides facing packed schedules until the end of the year. It was set to be hosted by Sri Lanka, mid-year, but Sri Lanka Cricket officials are skeptical the tournament can go ahead as planned. Partly, this is down to the pandemic –– both the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Pakistan Super League (PSL) had to be cut short part way through their runs and rescheduled for later in the year due to a breach of their respective bio-bubbles. This rescheduling takes chunks out of the time available this year. Sri Lanka also plan to play their Lanka Premier League (LPL) in August, while the Bangladesh Premier League is also set for later in the year. On top of which teams are also attempting to catch up on the international series they missed in 2020. The likeliest scenario appears to be that the Asia Cup will instead be held in consecutive years –– in 2022 and 2023 (it is usually played every two years). Pakistan will likely host the 2022 tournament, and Sri Lanka the 2023 iteration. This year’s tournament would have been a T20 affair, with teams having originally hoped it would be good preparation for the T20 World Cup to be hosted by India later in the year. There has not been an Asia Cup since 2018, with the tournament planned for 2020 having had to be postponed as well, because of Covid-19. India have won the last two iterations of the tournament.