The 2020 Asia Cup was initially supposed to take place in September 2020. However, owing to the ongoing COVID-19 scare the tournament was postponed in the month of July.
The 15th edition of the Asia Cup cricket tournament which has matches played in the T20 format has w been scheduled to take place in June 2021. Sri Lanka will be hosting the upcoming edition of the Asia Cup.
The Asia Cup came into action in 1983 after the Asia Cricket Council was established with the aim of promoting harmony amongst various Asian countries.
The very first Asia Cup was held on the grounds of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates back in 1984. The matches took place in a round-robin format and a total of three countries including India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka participated in it. India won the tournament and then captain Sunil Gavaskar lifted the very first Asia Cup trophy.
India having won a total of seven titles is supposedly the strongest and most successful team in the tournament. The title of the second most successful team belongs to Sri Lanka with a total of five wins.
The most number of Asia Cups has been played by Sri Lanka, i.e, 14 followed by India and Pakistan who have both played a total of 13 tournaments.
The most successful bowler of Asia Cup is Muttiah Muralitharan. He is the highest wicket taker in Asia Cup with a total of 30 wicket taking feats in his Asia Cup career.
Various news portals reported in the January of 2020, that Pakistan would not be hosting the 15th edition of Asia Cup due to the tense relations between India and Pakistan.
On the 28 February, 2020 BCCI president Sourav Ganguly issued a statement that revealed the venue of Asia Cup to be Delhi. He further said that both India and Pakistan will be part of the tournament.
Later on, Ehsan Mani differed with Ganguly’s statement saying that the venue is yet to be finalised. A few days later, he said that the tournament would take place in a neutral place and finally said that the tournament had to be postponed owing to the ongoing pandemic.
In a meeting inclusive of ACC and PCB in June 2020, it was decided that the 15th edition of the Asia Cup will be hosted by Sri Lanka. On 8 July 2020, Sourav Ganguly said that the tournament stands cancelled. The subsequent day it was officially postponed to June 2021.
Writer -Arunima SenGupta
