NEW DELHI: The logjam around the impending Asia Cup in September seems to be over. After months of negotiations, it has emerged that the tournament is likely to be played in a hybrid model with Pakistan hosting four of its league matches in Lahore while the rest of the matches will be played in Sri Lanka, ToI reported.
The Asian Cricket Council, headed by BCCI secretary Jay Shah, is slated to ratify the decision soon which has cleared the decks for the International Cricket Council (ICC) to finally release the schedule for the 50-over World Cup to be played in India in Oct-Nov this year.
The ICC will be ratifying the World Cup schedule at its board meeting in South Africa on Tuesday. The World Cup fixtures were held back since Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had expressed its reservations on travelling to India, particularly Ahmedabad, for the event if the ACC didn’t accept the hybrid model for the Asia Cup. ACC was not in favour of playing the Asia Cup in Pakistan as BCCI wouldn’t have got clearance from the Indian government to travel to Pakistan.
“ICC chairman Greg Barclay and CEO Geoff Allardice travelled to Pakistan to get assurances from PCB about playing the World Cup. It was decided that if the ACC agreed on the hybrid model, then PCB will not raise any objection about the World Cup schedule,” a source told TOI.
“Dubai would have been very hot for an ODI tournament in September. The northern parts of Sri Lanka are cooler and it’s a good place to play the rest of the Asia Cup matches including the final.”
This has meant that Ahmedabad is certain to host the India-Pakistan match during the World Cup. India will play their games at nine different venues. They are likely to play Australia in Chennai, South Africa in Kolkata, New Zealand in Delhi.
