Agency :
The 2016 edition of the Asia Cup will be a Twenty20 affair, making it the first time the event will not be a 50-over contest.
According to a report in cricket.com.au, in a proposed revamp of the tournament, the Asia Cup will now be in the same format as the World Cup that follows it – T20 Internationals before the World T20s and One-Day Internationals before the 50-over World Cups.
“As there is a World Twenty20 tournament in 2016, the Asia Cup next year will also be of Twenty20 Internationals in February or March,” Syed Ashraful Haq, chief executive of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), was quoted as saying in the report. The Asia Cup will then go back to being a 50-over event in 2018, with the next edition of the 50-over World Cup to be held in 2019. “The year 2020 will again see the tournament in Twenty20 format and there will be another ODI Asia Cup in 2022,” said Haq.
Bangladesh hosted the two previous editions of the event, in 2012 and 2014, while the host for the next edition is yet to be decided.
Afghanistan were a part of the action along with the four Asian Test-playing nations in the last edition of the Asia Cup, in 2014, and Haq said more associate teams could be drafted in after a qualifying tournament in the future.
The inclusion of two associates would make the 2016 edition the first Asia Cup since 2008 to have six teams. Both the 2004 and 2008 events, that had UAE and Hong Kong, were six-team affairs, while the 2014 edition was a five-team tournament.
As such, the ACC would no longer be recognised as an independent organisation after June 30. While their operations would be taken over by the International Cricket Council, some of the staff members, including Aminul Islam and Venkatapathi Raju, who are both ACC coaches, would join the ICC.
There will no longer be a chief executive’s post, which means Haq’s 32-year association with the body – he joined on the first day of operations in 1983 – would also end.
“It is correct that Asian Cricket Council is being dwindled down to only two employees who will work from Singapore,” he said. “Whatever the development work ACC used to do will now be done by the International Cricket Council. However, the Asia Cup will continue to take place after every two years. The Asia Cup events have been slotted in for next eight years in the Future Tours Programme.”
The inaugural edition of the Asia Cup was held in 1984. India and Sri Lanka have won five titles each, while Pakistan have won twice.
