Bangladesh to host Asia Cup 2016

The 2016 edition of the Asia Cup will be hosted by Bangladesh between February 24 and March 6, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan announced late on Wednesday (October 28). The decision to let Bangladesh host the continental tournament for the third time in succession was taken in a meeting in Singapore on Tuesday.

The tournament, set to be played in the Twenty20 format for the first time, will feature Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and an associate nation.

“Pakistan raised the point that Bangladesh should host next year’s Asia Cup and everyone agreed,” Hassan was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.“Four Test nations will get direct entry while one Associate nation will come through the qualifying tournament. We also discussed whether there can be more cricket at the Under-19 level between the Asian countries.”

Earlier in the year, Asian Cricket Council’s outgoing President, Syed Ashraful Haq had said that the tournament wished to remodel itself to allow greater participation and reach. According to Haq, the tournament organizers had mulled the possibility of playing the series in the T20 format every alternate edition. With the World T20 scheduled to begin five days after the Asia Cup, teams will want to use the tournament to fine-tune their preparations for the biennial event.

The qualifying tournament to be held in the UAE in November will see the hosts, Oman, Afghanistan and Hong Kong vie for one spot in the main tournament.

Bangladesh hosted the previous two Asia Cups in 2014 and 2012 that was won by Sri Lanka and Pakistan respectively. The tournament was first played in 1984 and has since seen India and Sri Lanka win the title, a record five times.