DUBAI: Amid political and economic turmoil in the country, the Asia Cup 2022, scheduled from August 27 to September 11, has been moved from Sri Lanka to the United Arab Emirates.

The Asian Cricket Council (ACC), in a statement, said that after extensive deliberation and taking into account the current situation in Sri Lanka, it was decided to relocate the nine-team competition from Sri Lanka to the UAE.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka will retain the hosting rights of the event.

“Every effort was made to host the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka and the decision to shift the venue to the UAE was taken after much deliberation. The UAE will be the new venue while Sri Lanka will continue to retain hosting rights,” ACC President Jay Shah was quoted as saying in a press release on Wednesday.

It is pertinent to mention here that Asia Cup will be played in T20 format this time and serve as preparation for the ICC men’s T20 World Cup scheduled in October.

The event will kick off with qualifying round matches between UAE, Kuwait, Singapore and Hong Kong. The winner of the qualifying round will advance to the main tournament which includes Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh as the other teams.

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