Asia Cup 2021 to be postponed amid hectic cricket calendar

The Asia Cup scheduled for 2021 has been postponed, with all four major Asian sides facing packed schedules until the end of the year. It was set to be hosted by Sri Lanka mid-year, having already been pushed back from 2020, but will now happen in 2023 the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) confirmed in a statement on May 23.*

Largely, this is down to the pandemic - both the IPL and PSL had to be cut short part way through their runs and rescheduled for later in the year due to a breach of their respective bio-bubbles. This rescheduling takes chunks out of the time available this year. Sri Lanka also plan to play their Lankan Premier League in August, while Bangladesh's BPL is also set for later in the year. On top of all this, teams are also attempting to catch up on the international series they missed in 2020.

With an Asia Cup also scheduled for 2022 (it is usually played every two years), the pending 2020 edition has now been pushed to 2023. Pakistan will likely host the 2022 tournament, and Sri Lanka the 2023 iteration.

This year's tournament would have been a T20 affair, with teams having originally hoped it would be good preparation for the T20 World Cup to be hosted by India later in the year. There has not been an Asia Cup since 2018. India have won the last two iterations of the tournament.

*12.20GMT, May 23: This article was updated after the ACC statement was released.