Media director of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Samiul Hasan Burney has expressed that the BCCI President, Sourav Ganguly’s claims of Asia Cup 2020 being canceled has no merit, and instead Burney feels that it’s up to the ACC (Asian Cricket Council) to decide on the fate of the tournament. On Wednesday, Ganguly during an Instagram live session announced the cancellation of the Asia Cup.
Even though the former Indian skipper didn’t explain the reason behind the decision, the failure to finalize who will be hosting the tournament seems to one of the reasons which decided the fate of the tournament.
During an Instagram live session with ‘Sports Tak’, Sourav said, “In December, we have the first full series. Asia Cup 2020 has been called-off which was scheduled to take place in September.”
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Countering Ganguly’s statement, the media director of the PCB asserted that such an important announcement can only be made by the President of the ACC.
Hassan explained, “The decision regarding the Asia Cup will be taken by the ACC. The announcement can only be made by the president of the Asian body Nazmul Hasan. To the best of our knowledge, the schedule of the next ACC meeting is yet to be announced.”
The PCB and the BCCI have never managed to come to terms with the scheduling part of this year’s Asia Cup. The 15th edition of the tournament was scheduled to commence in September and in May of 2019, Pakistan was announced as the host of the event by the ACC. However, due to the border and political tensions between India and Pakistan, the BCCI has appealed to PCB for changing the venue, or conduct India’s matches outside of Pakistan due to security concerns, preferably in the UAE.
In February this year, Ganguly had said that the Asia Cup will be taking place in UAE where both India and Pakistan will play, but the claims were turned down by PCB chairman Ehsan Mani. Ever since, there and been back and forth information regarding the tournament before Ganguly announced its cancellation on Wednesday.
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However, Hassan had said, “As far as I am concerned ACC management is working on Asia Cup 2020. They are also exploring other options if the tournament cannot be hosted on scheduled time.”
