2021 Asia Cup officially postponed to 2023 owing to packed schedule

In what comes as a blow for the Asian cricket fans, this year's Asia Cup will no longer take place in 2021 as the tournament has been officially postponed. Originally, the tournament was supposed to take place last year, however, it was postponed to 2021 owing to the novel Coronavirus. This year, the Asian Cricket Council couldn't find a suitable window to stage the tournament after COVID-19 effectively messed up the international calendar of most of the teams.

Due to the jam-packed nature of the FTP, the 2021 edition of the tournament will now take place in 2023. Notably, an edition of the tournament will be played in 2022 as well, which means there will be back-to-back Asia Cups in the next two years, if everything falls in place. The ACC Executive Board officially announced the postponement on Sunday, via a media release, in which it stated that the present FTP doesn't allow any window to stage the tournament. 

"The ACC Executive Board, in face of the risks and restrictions posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, had made the difficult decision to postpone the Asia Cup 2020 to 2021. Since then, the ACC has been working with its participants and stakeholders to try and ensure that the event is held in the year," stated the media release. 

"However, on account of a packed FTP, it has been concluded that there is no practical window in the year when all the teams would be available to participate. The Board has accordingly considered the matter very carefully and determined that the only way ahead would be to postpone the event.

"It would therefore only be feasible for this edition of the tournament to be held in 2023 as there is already an Asia Cup in 2022. Dates for the same will be confirmed in due course."

The last edition of the Asia Cup had taken place in 2018 the UAE where the defending champions India were able to retain the title after beating Bangladesh by three wickets in a thrilling finale.