(UTV | COLOMBO) – As the economic and political crisis continues in Sri Lanka, which took a dramatic turn recently, reports suggest the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has kept Bangladesh on stand-by to host the Asia Cup, scheduled to be played in August.
Sri Lanka Cricket had expressed its willingness to host the tournament, but the final decision will be taken by the ACC later this month.
The Australian men’s team has just concluded a month-long tour of Sri Lanka, while the Indian women’s team also toured the country recently. However, the ACC doesn’t want to take any chances if the situation deteriorates further.
Recently, citizens of the island nation stormed into the President’s house and burned the Prime Minister’s residence, which eventually lead to both leaders expressing their willingness to resign.
In fact, the protestor’s fury came close to the pitch when, during Sri Lanka’s test match against Australia that concluded yesterday, protestors climbed the Galle Fort condemning President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for mismanagement of the country’s finances and demanding his resignation.
Bangladesh has previously hosted the Asia Cup in 2016 and also hosted the T20 World Cup, in 2014, where Sri Lanka beat India to lift the trophy.
Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh will feature in the tournament and will be joined by another Asian side, which could be either UAE, Kuwait, Singapore or Hong Kong, to be decided after a qualifying tournament, for which the schedule is yet to be known.