Asia Cup 2022 to be hosted by Sri Lanka not Pakistan, tournament to be played in 20-over format

Sri Lanka is all set to host the 2022 edition of the Asia Cup. The tournament will be played in the 20-over format this time around and will be conducted between August 27 to September 11. The date and venue of the tournament were confirmed after the Annual General Meeting between the member nations on Saturday (March 19).

Asia Cup was lasted staged in 2018 when India emerged as champions under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma in the absence of former skipper Virat Kohli. The next edition of the tournament was set to be held in 2020 but it had to be postponed due to COVID-19. Sri Lanka was scheduled to host the 2020 edition which was postponed to 2021 before being moved to 2022 last year.

Pakistan were the original hosts of the 2022 edition of the tournament and were expecting to retain the hosting rights this year. However, Sri Lanka will host Asia Cup this year while Pakistan have been awarded the hosting rights for the 2023 edition of the tournament.

The tournament has been played in both ODI and T20I formats over the years. However, this time around it will be staged in the 20-over format with all five member nations – Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh featuring in the tournament.

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There will be another Asian side that will be added to the tournament after the conclusion of the qualifiers which will get underway from August 20. The sixth team to take part in the tournament will be one of UAE, Kuwait, Singapore or Hong Kong.

India are the most successful team in the history of the Asia Cup, a tournament which started in 1984. India have won six Asia Cup titles in 14 editions of the tournament so far. The upcoming edition will be the 15th one. India have won five Asia Cup titles in the fifty-over format and one in the T20I format.