Women’s Asia Cup to be held from October 1 to 16 in Bangladesh, hosts to defend their title: Reports

New Delhi: Women’s Asia Cup 2022 is set to take place in October in Bangladesh. A total of seven teams will be participating in the tournament. The schedule and other details are yet to be announced by an official governing body.

Though the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is yet to officially announce the dates of the tournament, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) women’s committee chairperson, Shafiul Alam Chowdhury Nadel told the dates of the Asia Cup to be October 1 to 16. The tournament is set to be held after the 2022 Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier in the UAE.

In the first-ever Future Tours Program (FTP) announced by ICC, the first two months of October were left for the Asia Cup, the tournament was supposed to happen in 2020 but got postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eventually, the organisers had to cancel it as the situation worsened. The Women’s Asia Cup, which has been played in the T20 format since 2012, is usually a biennial competition, but the pandemic situation caused a hindrance in the scheduling.

The last Asia Cup, held in 2018, was won by Bangladesh against the six-time champions India in a final ball thriller. India ended up making just 112 runs with Harmanpreet Kaur scoring 56 off 42. Crucial 27(24) by Nigar Sultana and 23(22) by Rumana Ahmed helped Bangladesh lift the cup. Poonam Yadav’s 4 wicket haul also went in vain. Bangladesh, apart from being the defending champions and hosting the Asia Cup, will also be hosting the 2024 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.

The tournament will be held at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium where ground 1 will be allotted for games while ground 2 for practice. Along with India and Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, UAE and Malaysia will take part in the tournament.