Amid the speculations over the hosting of the upcoming Asia Cup, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) will reportedly take a call later this month on whether it is possible to stage the multi-nation tournament in Sri Lanka.

Asia Cup 2022, in a T20 format, was announced to be held in Sri Lanka between August 27 and September 11. Sri Lanka was declared host for the marquee event after an AGM was held between the member countries in March.

However, the island nation is dealing with a major economic crisis and questions are being raised if it could still host the tournament amid the ongoing mass protest.

While the Sri Lanka Cricket officials are confident to pull off the competition, Bangladesh has been zeroed in as a standby.

“The ACC is monitoring the situation and will make a decision in its meeting later this month, keeping all factors in mind,” a source aware of the development was quoted as saying by Sportstar.

Sri Lanka Cricket may have expressed its keenness to conduct the tournament after successfully hosting the Australian men’s team and the Indian women’s team.

However, things have changed drastically in the past one week as the Presidential Palace was stormed by protesters and the Prime Minister’s residence was set on fire.

Looking at the recent development, the ACC doesn’t want to take any risk and, thus, Bangladesh is being considered as an alternative option.

All five Test teams including Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh are set to feature in the competition, with one more team to join them after a qualifying tournament which is scheduled to be held from August 20.

But the sources have indicated that not many cricket boards are confident about sending their teams, prompting the ACC to look at an alternative.

Asia cup was originally slated to be played in 2020 but the Covid-19 pandemic forced the governing body to postpone the tournament. India is currently the defending champions, having beaten Bangladesh in 2018.

(With Sportstar inputs)