As the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) scrambles to lessen the possibility of matches being impacted owing to rain, the Asia Cup matches that were earlier slated to take place in Colombo might perhaps be moved to Hambantota.
There is a movement afoot to shift the matches to Hambantota since, on average, it has a much less precipitation in September than Colombo and Pallekele, which is why there is a push to move them there.
However, shifting matches to this site on the southern coast of Sri Lanka presents a number of logistical challenges that must be overcome.
There are no high-quality hotels within at least a 45-minute drive of the area because it is situated in what is practically the middle of the jungle next to a small village called Sooriyawewa and is some distance from any urban centers.
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Because of the late nature of the probable rescheduling, it is not apparent whether the organizers will be able to reserve enough accommodations to accommodate all of the participants, including the four teams, their support personnel, match officials, commentators, and broadcast crew.
However, according to officials that C2Dcricinfo spoke to on Monday, the only impediment to moving the back half of the tournament to Hambantota is logistics. Hambantota has been approved as the location for the event, according to officials from the PCB.
Although Colombo has been able to stage limited-overs matches in September with great success over the last few years, the city has been experiencing heavy rainfall over the past few days, which has caused flooding in the northern parts of the city, not too far from the Khettarama stadium.
Despite this, the city is still planning to host the match. This rains, along with the fact that the Pakistan vs. India match at Pallekele was rained out, caused the broadcasters and the organizers of the event to express concern. The match between India and Nepal at Pallekele was also affected by the rain.
Officials from the SLC stated that they would like for the matches to continue to be played in Colombo, even if it meant avoiding a logistical issue.
However, they appear to favor the notion of shifting the games to Hambantota rather than Dambulla, which is likely the driest location in the country.
Hambantota is the capital city of Sri Lanka. Officials from the SLC argue that this is because the floodlights at Dambulla are not powerful enough to host the Asia Cup, despite the fact that the site only recently held a day/night ODI in 2018.
The rearranged schedule will have an effect on the Super Four matches that are set to take place on September 9, 10, 12, and 14, with the championship match taking place on September 15.
The most recent one-day international matches played at Hambantota were on August 22 and 24, and they were between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
