The Super 4 stage matches of the Asia Cup 2023 will now be held in the coastal town of Hambantota as against the original venue of Colombo. The development has emerged due to the prevailing weather conditions. The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is expected to make an official announcement soon regarding the same.
According to media reports, all the participating teams have been made aware of this change and the teams which have completed their league games in Pakistan, are set to travel to Hambantota. Rohit Sharma and co. played their final league match against Nepal on September 4th in Pallekele and will move there to Hambantota.
Reports have also suggested that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was also being considered as a venue; however, due to the intense heat in the country, which could pose health risks for the players, it has been scrapped. As far as Hambantota goes, reports say that the chances of rain reported is only 20 per cent, while probability of showers is over 50 per cent in the next 10 days in Colombo.
Najam Sethi criticises Asian Cricket Council for choosing Sri Lanka as the venue:
Meanwhile, former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi has hit out at ACC for choosing Sri Lanka as the venue and felt Pakistan and UAE should have hosted the tournament. He felt BCCI Secretary Jay Shah's rationale behind selecting Sri Lanka was flawed. He wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter)
"I proposed that we play five matches in Pakistan and eight in the UAE. This also they rejected and hinted at giving the Asia Cup hosting rights to Sri Lanka if we didn't budge. BCCI refused to accept their request. Only Mr (Jay) Shah can explain why these options were rejected and why Sri Lanka was accommodated against all reason, logic, and rationality. The choice of venues in Sri Lanka was also problematic as we have seen."
Meanwhile, India and Pakistan will play for the 2nd time in the Asia Cup 2023 on September 10th (Sunday).
