I don't see the Asia Cup happening: Harsha Bhogle

Indian commentator Harsha Bhogle believes Asia Cup is unlikely to take place this year due to a packed international cricket calendar for the Men in Blue.

India have a busy schedule, around the time the Asia Cup is scheduled, which includes the ICC World Test Championship Final, June 18-22, and the Test series against England in August.

“There was an Asia Cup scheduled to be played in Sri Lanka, I don’t see that happening. I don’t know when their white-ball games that were scheduled in Sri Lanka apart from the Asia Cup will now take place because World test Championship Final ends on the 22nd of June and India have got to be back in England at least by the 20th of July for the first game starting on the 4th of August. So there is not much point slipping in some T20 games in between if India has to back in England,” Bhogle said on CricBuzz YouTube channel.

According to a report in Times of India earlier this week, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) can send a second-string squad for this year’s Asia Cup if it was to take place.

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The 2020 Asia Cup was postponed last year and moved to 2021 with the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) working towards securing June 2021 as a suitable window for the tournament.

It may also be noted that the hosts for the Asia Cup 2020, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), had exchanged hosting rights for the tournament with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). Through this arrangement, the SLC will now host the rescheduled Asia Cup expected in June 2021 while the PCB will host the Asia Cup 2022.