The Asia Cup 2023 is going to start from 30 August and it will give a platform to the Asian teams to prepare for the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 which is going to be played in India from 5 October 2023.
The Asia Cup is being hosted on a hybrid model as 4 matches out of 13 will be hosted by Pakistan and the remaining 9 will be hosted by Sri Lanka but things are looking a little scary as a couple of Sri Lankan cricketers have been found COVID-19 positive.
As per the reports, the Sri Lankan cricketers, Kusal Perera and Avishka Fernando have been tested positive for COVID-19 and currently they both are under observation. As per the Sri Lankan cricket board, both of them have caught COVID-19 during the later stage of the Lanka Premier League and their inclusion in the squad will depend on how fast they recover and provide negative test results for COVID-19.
Sri Lanka will be starting their Asia Cup 2023 campaign on 31 August with playing their first match against Bangladesh at Pallekele and they have two more reasons to worry as their pacer Dushamantha Chameera and all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga are also injured.
While Hasaranga has got a thigh niggle because of which he will be missing a couple of matches of Asia Cup 2023, the pacer Dushamantha Chameera has been ruled out of the Asia Cup 2023 completely because of his shoulder injury.
Injuries are quite common in cricketing circles but the comeback of COVID-19 is a matter of concern especially because the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 is not very far away.
Let’s just hope that things will be taken care of in a proper manner and COVID-19 will not get the chance to spread its wings.
