Emirates Cricket Board writes to ACC over Asia Cup venue dispute 

The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) is not happy with the media reports that have suggested Asia Cup would be played in Sri Lanka. Subsequently, the ECB has written a letter to the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) citing its disappointment.

With COVID-19 cases on the rise in several countries, the future of the Asia Cup 2020 is still uncertain. But a few days ago, the ECB was in talks with ACC to host the Asia Cup. However, they were not informed about the tournament being moved to Sri Lanka.

"Yes, the ECB has written a letter to the ACC and naturally we are disappointed. Three days before the ACC meeting – on June 8 – we were in advanced talks to host the Asia Cup and had notified our government about it to get the necessary permissions and three days later, we got to hear from media reports that the tournament is being swapped with Sri Lanka. That was absolutely unfair," Times of India quoted sources as saying.

Pakistan were due to host the tournament this year but owing to the surge in cases in the country, the ACC has been looking at an alternative venue for the Asia Cup.

Given that the UAE is the team’s second home, talks had been ongoing with respect to the possibility of the tournament taking place in the gulf. Soon after though, reports of Sri Lanka bagging the hosting rights emerged.

SLC chief confirmed that Asia Cup will take place in Sri Lanka

The publication also reported that as per SLC chief Shammi Silva, the ACC agreed to Sri Lanka hosting this year's edition of the tournament.

"We had a discussion with Pakistan Cricket Board and they have already agreed to our hosting this edition due to the present world situation. We had an online ACC meeting and they basically gave us the green light to host the tournament," Silva was quoted as saying.