Colombo will no longer host Asia Cup games; Hambantota will

Hambantota, a coastal community in southern Sri Lanka, is expected to join the Asia Cup bandwagon. Due to the island nation’s current weather conditions, all of the Super 4 games and the final, which were originally slated for the capital city of Colombo, will now be held in Hambantota.

This modification has been communicated to all participating teams, and the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is anticipated to make an official announcement shortly. Teams will fly to Hambantota after they have finished their last league games in Pakistan. From Pallekele, the Indian squad will now relocate there.

Cricbuzz has gathered that holding the matches in the UAE was also a possibility. However, due to worries for the players’ wellbeing, this choice was finally rejected. Given the harsh conditions, playing in the sweltering and intense heat of the UAE just three weeks before the World Cup would pose serious health concerns for the players.

The ACC has also taken into account the weather patterns in Hambantota. In comparison to Colombo, which served as the Super 4 stage’s initial location, it has been noted that the precipitation levels there are far more favorable. In Hambantota, it is allegedly only 20% likely that it will rain in the next 10 days, compared to over 50% in Colombo.

The relocation of the entire tournament certainly presents the ACC with many logistical challenges, but the continental body has handled the task with a warlike attitude. The ACC has had time to prepare since the next game is only on September 9 in Sri Lanka.

Najam Sethi has criticized the ACC for favoring Sri Lanka for the Asia Cup in the meantime. “I suggested that we play eight games in the UAE and five in Pakistan. They rejected this as well and threatened to award Sri Lanka the privilege to host the Asia Cup if we didn’t budge, he claimed in a post on the microblogging website X (previously Twitter), adding, “BCCI refused to accept their request. Only Mr. Jay  Shah can explain why these alternatives were turned down and Sri Lanka was made an exception against all logic, reason, and rationale. As we have seen, Sri Lanka’s selection of venues was equally problematic.

Participants in the tournament contend that such criticism is unfair and that the ACC is not given enough credit for coming up with the arrangement so quickly.