Asia Cup 2023 Likely To Be Moved Out Of Pakistan; Which Country Is Likely To Host It?

Big news is coming out about Asia Cup 2023. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was not happy after the Team India refused to play in Pakistan for Asia Cup 2023. 

After that Sri Lanka Cricket Board and Bangladesh Cricket Board also demanded that the Asia Cup should be played outside Pakistan. So now the news is coming out that this competition will be held in Sri Lanka. 

A tournament hosted in Sri Lanka will give the defending champions a significant advantage in home conditions. In recent times teams have found it difficult to win series in Sri Lanka owing to the slow and spin-helping conditions.

ACC likely to make official announcement about this by month-end

The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is likely to make an official announcement about this by the end of this month. But, because of this, Pakistan is expected to boycott this tournament.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) fought hard for the Asia Cup to be held in Pakistan. But, BCCI refused to send a team to Pakistan and got support from other members as well. 

PCB had proposed to play tournament in a hybrid model

The PCB had proposed to play the tournament in a hybrid model, according to which India's matches would be played in Dubai and other teams would play in Pakistan. But, the broadcaster opposed it. It is not possible to play ODI matches in United Arab Emirates in the month of September due to extreme heat. 

This year's Asia Cup will be played in 50-50 over format

With ODI World Cup 2023 in mind, this year's Asia Cup will be played in 50-50 over format. Oman was offered to host the tournament, but given the physical conditions, Sri Lanka is more likely to host the tournament.

In 2018, the Asia Cup was held in Dubai in the month of September and how did the players fare then? In the same tournament, Hardik Pandya was injured and was ruled out of the World Cup in October. But, if this year's tournament is held in Sri Lanka, there is a possibility of boycotting by the Pakistan team. 

Sri Lanka won the Asia Cup (T20) in 2022. If Pakistan plays in the Asia Cup, there will be six teams including India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Nepal. The tournament is expected to be held from September 2 to 17.