For the first in Asia Cup’s history, we will witness the tournament being played in the T20 format. Syed Ashraful Haq, Chief Executive The Asia Cricket Council (ACC) confirmed the news while also revealing that there would be two associate teams featuring alongside India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
The main reason behind the switch in the format is because of the ICC T20 World Cup 2016 , which will be played in India. The tournament will once again go back to the 50 over format in 2018 ahead of the 2019 World Cup and then revert back to the T20 format in 2020 ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia.
During an exclusive interview with Cricket Australia’s official website, Haq quoted:
As there is a World Twenty20 tournament in 2016, the Asia Cup next year will also be of Twenty20 Internationals in February or March. The host country has not been decided yet.” Bangladesh hosted the previous two Asia Cups in 2014 and 2012.
There may be one or two teams from Associate nations as well. They could join India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the main tournament after playing a qualifying round.
The 2014 edition saw Afghanistan take part in the tournament, and next year they could be joined by Nepal, Hong Kong or UAE.