Hyderabad: The decision on whether the Asia Cup 2020 will be played in a neutral venue is unlikely to be decided soon as the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting, which was scheduled to be held in Dubai on March 3, has been postponed due to Coronavirus outbreak in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The meeting could be held outside Dubai in the third week of March, sources in the know of developments said.
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, who was supposed to fly to Dubai on Saturday, decided to skip the meeting.
"The meeting will not be held now because of a coronavirus alert. It will be held tentatively in the third week of this month, prior to the ICC board and chief executives committee meeting," said a BCCI official.
“Some of our colleagues from the far east could not travel due to the outbreak of coronavirus. So, it was decided to postpone it till the end of the month,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief, Ehsan Mani, said on Sunday.
The ICC meeting has been scheduled towards the end of this month.
Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah were supposed to represent the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) at the ACC meeting.
"If such a situation arises, the meeting could be held in India too. We have to be keep track of the situation," he said.
Ganguly was present during Bengal's Ranji Trophy semifinal Day 2 proceedings at Eden Gardens here.
The former India skipper had announced on Friday that the Asia Cup will be held in Dubai and both India and Pakistan will take part in the tournament but hosts Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has made it clear that only the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) can decide on the venue of the tournament, which will be played in the T20 format this year keeping in mind the World T20 in Australia in October.
A PCB official had said that while the Pakistan board remains the event's host, only the ACC can take a call on the matter and the same will be done keeping in mind the interest of all the countries involved.
"The ACC is the event authority and therefore the only competent body to shift the venue of the ACC T20 Cup scheduled in September. The ACC is meeting in Dubai on March 3 under the chairmanship of Nazmul Hassan in which it will discuss and decide on the venue, keeping in mind the interests of the associate members," the PCB official said.
