Colombo, First Published Jul 16, 2022, 3:07 PM IST
The Sri Lankan Cricket Board has expressed confidence that we will be able to hold the Asia Cup T20 tournament as planned.
There is a lot of chaos and political instability in Sri Lanka. Even though people have faced many hardships like protests, rising prices, shortage of petrol and diesel, they have not left cricket alone.
Sri Lanka’s economy has sunk to the bottom. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who caused the economic deterioration, and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, were protested and removed from office on a large scale.
However, Sri Lanka’s economy has not even reached the recovery stage. It suffers from lack of foreign exchange to buy petrol and diesel and inability to pay for imports in dollars.
With inflation reaching 75 percent, the prices of food items, medicines, essential products and dairy products have gone up sharply. To save Sri Lanka as it is now, the tourism sector will recover only if the income in dollars comes. Therefore, by holding cricket series, it is hoped that foreign arrivals and tourism will recover
Therefore, regardless of the political chaos prevailing in Sri Lanka, there is interest in hosting cricket matches to earn foreign exchange for the country.
Sri Lanka successfully completed the Test series against Australia despite large-scale public protests. The 2-match Test series against Pakistan also begins today.
According to earlier reports, Sri Lanka will lose the right to host the Asia Cup. However, the Sri Lankan government hopes to successfully conduct the Asia Cup series by successfully completing the Test series against Australia and Pakistan.
Ilahkai Cricket Board Secretary Mohan De Silva said, “As far as we are concerned, we have conducted a Test series against two countries. The Test series against Australia is over and the Test series against Pakistan is underway. Therefore, the Asia Cup T20 series can also be held,” he said.
However, it is not known whether the Asian Cricket Council will return the right to host the Asia Cup cricket tournament to Sri Lanka.
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be the 5 teams in the Asia Cup cricket tournament and the team that wins the qualifying round from August 20 to 26 will qualify as the 6th team. Hong Kong, Kuwait, Singapore and United Arab Emirates are participating in the qualifiers.
The Asia Cup cricket tournament starts on August 27. Perhaps if the Asian Cricket Council decides that it is not possible to host the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, it will be held in Bangladesh. The Asia Cup Council meeting will be held next week and the decision will be taken in that meeting.
Last Updated Jul 16, 2022, 3:07 PM IST