Sri Lanka Cricket Secretary Mohan de Silva has revealed the amount the cricket board would receive for the upcoming Asia Cup 2022. The upcoming edition of the tournament was originally scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka. However, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) had to shift the venue to the United Arabia Emirates due to the economical and political unrest in Sri Lanka.
Recently, Sri Lanka successfully hosted Australia and Pakistan for bilateral series despite the unrest going on in the country. The ACC, however, was in no mood to take any sort of risk and eventually decided to shift the venue to UAE. The previous edition of the tournament was also held in the UAE in 2018. Speaking on the change of venue, De Silva expressed his disappointment.
“But this was solely because the stakeholders doubts due to the prevailing unrest in the country. Had we hosted it Sri Lanka’s economy would have definitely been boosted centred around a tourism build up and upped the country image,” said the SLC secretary according to the board’s official website.
Sri Lanka Cricket to receive US $ 6 million:
While Sri Lanka Cricket is disappointed for missing out on hosting Asia Cup 2022, they will receive the whole amount that was assured to them for being the hosts. De Silva confirmed the same while speaking from the SLC headquarters. SLC will receive US $ 6 million (approx. 48 crores) in total for being the hosts and participating in Asia Cup 2022.
“Sri Lanka will still receive the US $ 2.5 million hosting fee, 1.5 million ticket sale fees and 2 million fee due to every participating team,” said De Silva.
Meanwhile, the fifteenth edition of the Asia Cup is scheduled to begin on August 27 while the final is on September 11. Sri Lanka will open their campaign against Afghanistan on the very first day of the tournament. They are placed in Group A along with Afghanistan and Bangladesh. On the other hand, India, Pakistan and the qualifier are in Group B.
