Asia Cup in Dhaka

Next year's Asia Cup will be held in Bangladesh, confirmed Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon after returning from a meeting of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in Singapore late last night. 

“The Asia Cup will be held in Bangladesh. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) representative proposed Bangladesh's name as their preferred choice for hosting for the tournament and no one raised any objection to the proposal, which was unanimously approved during the meeting,” Papon told reporters on his arrival.

“There was another thought that since Australia's tour to Bangladesh was postponed everyone felt having this tournament in Bangladesh would go some way in compensating any financial loss that we might have incurred. Representatives of all the countries were very positive and accommodating,” Papon added. “This is a very good news for Bangladesh cricket and a positive message as well as we will be hosting a lot of cricket over the next few months.”

The BCB president informed that the Asia Cup, which will be held in Twenty20 format for the first time, will be accommodated in the slot available between February 24 and March 6, 2016. The event will be participated by the four full Asian members of the ICC – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – and one associate Asian member, who will come through a qualifying phase, Papon informed.

The BCB boss also said that the meeting in Singapore also discussed about the possibility of introducing an under-19 championship among the member countries. Papon was accompanied by BCB's chief executive officer, Nizamuddin Chowdhury, during the two-day meeting.

The BCB boss had said last month that Bangladesh were in with a chance of hosting the tournament for the third successive time if India, the original choice, were not interested and made it clear that "If Bangladesh receives the proposal, the Asia Cup will be held in Bangladesh."

Things took a turn as India became an unpopular destination for Pakistan after the scheduled talks between the PCB and the BCCI was cancelled due to a Shiv Sena attack at the latter's Mumbai headquarters on November 19.  

Bangladesh have always had the reputation of being good hosts and have smoothly staged, apart from bilateral tours, the 2012 and 2014 editions of the Asia Cup as well as World Twenty20 last year.