KUALA LUMPUR: Asian Cricket Council has agreed to shift the Asia Cup 2018 from India to the United Arab Emirates over Pakistan’s reservations on sending their team there.
The decision was taken during a meeting of the Executive Board in Kuala Lumpur headed by ACC President and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi.
It was further decided that the the Emerging Asia Cup will be hosted by Pakistan, whereas India will play their respective matches in Sri Lanka.
Earlier, PCB had taken a stance that if India will not send their U-19 squad to play Emerging Asia Cup in Pakistan, then they will not allow their squad to participate in Asia Cup hosted by India.
The Emerging Asia Cup was originally scheduled to take place in April, but has been moved to December.
The Asia Cup is scheduled to take place from September 13 to 28. It will feature five full members India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The sixth team will be determined via a playoff that includes Hong Kong, Nepal, Singapore, Malaysia, Oman, and hosts UAE.
This is the 14th edition of the Asia Cup. The first 12 were staged as ODI competitions, while the previous Asia Cup 2016 was the first to be held as a T20I event as a warm-up event ahead of the World T20.
Asia Cup has been marred by strained Indo-Pak relations since its inception. As a result, Bangladesh held three straight Asian Cups from 2012 to 2016.
Moreover, it was decided that the next meeting of Asian Cricket Council will be held in Karachi later this year.
