Board of control for cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly on Friday confirmed that the next edition of the Asia Cup will be played in Dubai. Pakistan had the hosting rights for the tournament and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PSB) was keen on staging the continental event in the home country in their bid to bring major international teams back to Pakistan.
“Asia Cup will be held in Dubai and both India and Pakistan will play,” Ganguly was quoted as saying by PTI.
The BCCI chief provided the major update to reporters at the Eden Gardens before leaving for Dubai for the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting which is scheduled to be held on March 3. The ACC stakeholders are set to discuss the matter of Asia Cup 2020 venue in the meeting. Earlier, PCB was adamant on hosting the Asia Cup in Pakistan but have agreed to move the tournament to Dubai.
Both India and Pakistan have not played a bilateral series in each other’s country since 2012-13 when Pakistan travelled to India. The two nations have met only in major ICC competition due to ongoing political tensions between them. Major international teams have also been reluctant of travelling to Pakistan owing to security issues after the deadly terror attack on Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in 2009.
