Pakistan to host Asia Cup

Rawalpindi, Nov 4: Pakistan will host the Asia Cup one-day tournament and Asian Test Championship next year with or without India, officials said.

The six-nation Asia Cup one-day tournament will be played in April immediately after the triangular Sharjah Cup while the 32-day fournation Asian Test Championship will be played in September and October. Pakistan will defend both the titles.

The finals of both the competitions will be played at the Qadhafi Stadium in Lahore, secretary of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Zakir Hussain Syed said.

Zakir said the decision in this regard was taken in the previous meeting while the other proposals, itinerary and other logistics concerning the two events would be finalized in the Nov 22 and 23 ACC meeting scheduled at Sharjah.

He said the suggestion was to hold matches at home and away basis. He explained that if India hosted Pakistan in the previous tournament, India will have to play its match against Pakistan in Pakistan. Similarly, Sri Lanka will have to tour India.

The scheme for the matches involving cricket babes Bangladesh are undecided.

The ACC secretary said the organization will not be inviting India for the two competitions because it was already part of the ACC which took the decision.

"Indian board chief A.C Muttiah agreed that the two tournaments will be played in Pakistan. He confirmed his team's participation so there is no need to send invitations," Zakir said.

Zakir said: "It was unanimously decided in the last ACC tournament that the two tournaments will go as per schedule irrespective of Indian stand of playing Pakistan or touring Pakistan." He, however, hinted that if India had objections playing in Pakistan, the ACC might agree to schedule their match at a neutral venue which in this case are Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Zakir said the one-day tournament will figure two finalists from the ACC Trophy which begins at Sharjah from Nov 15. He said when the dates for the tournament were discussed, the matches were planned for all day games since lights had not been installed at that time. He was unsure if the matches would now be played under lights but said all the major cities will host matches unlike the 1997 quadrangular tournament which was confined to Lahore only.