Pakistan to host Asia Cup cricket with Sri Lanka to placate India, ACC says

The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has accepted Pakistan’s hybrid proposal for staging the Asia Cup after India refused to tour due to strained relations between the two South Asian countries.

The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has accepted Pakistan’s hybrid proposal for staging the Asia Cup after India refused to tour due to strained relations between the two South Asian countries.

Pakistan will host four games and the remaining nine will be played in Sri Lanka, the ACC said in a statement on Thursday.

The Asia Cup will be played between August 31 and September 17 this year, the statement said.

The ACC statement did not mention the venues for the tournament or which team will play where but it is understood that India’s matches will be held in the island nation.

The compromise is aimed at forestalling a tit-for-tat boycott by India, which has not played in a bilateral series against Pakistan on either side’s soil since 2012. The rivals only play each other in international tournaments on neutral grounds.

“I am elated that our hybrid version for the Asia Cup has been accepted,” Pakistan Cricket Board head Najam Sethi said.