NEWS
Follow UsThe Afro-Asia Cup, a white-ball tournament played between an Asia XI and an Africa XI, could make a comeback after 17 years, according to the Africa Cricket Association (ACA). As reported by ESPNcricifno, the ACA has discussed approaching other organizations such as the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) to explore cross-continental opportunities in its Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on Saturday (November 2).
The Afro-Asia Cup was one such tournament, which had two editions in 2005 (in South Africa) and 2007 (in Chennai). A third edition was scheduled in Kenya in 2009 but was shelved later.
"The Afro-Asia Cup, apart from the cricket, brings the much needed financial input to the organization, and the appetite is huge from both ends," Tavengwa Mukuhlani, interim chair of the ACA, also the Zimbabwe Cricket Chair, said at a press conference. "We have had conversations with our counterparts within the Asia Cricket Council, and obviously our African contingents, they want the Afro-Asia Cup to be revived."
ACC, meanwhile, hasn’t responded to the possibilities of the tournament’s revival but has received a formal request from ACA.
The first edition of the tournament had three ODIs in Durban and Centurion with the series drawn 1-1. The second edition, with two ODIs in Chennai and one in Bangalore, was clean swept by the Asia XI. It included a 218-run stand for the sixth wicket between Mahela Jayawardene and MS Dhoni which was the record sixth-wicket stand in ODI cricket for a number of years. The same tournament also witnessed Shaun Pollock’s only ODI hundred — 130 in the first ODI.
The 2005 edition saw players like Inzamam Ul Haq, Virender Sehwag and Kumar Sangakkara rub shoulders as teammates with the Africa XI led by Pollock and Zimbabwe and Kenya cricket stars like Elton Chigumbura and Steve Tikolo respectively.
The tournament’s revival opens up exciting possibilities of seeing Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah team up with Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, and Shaheen Shah Afridi. This will be huge in the cricketing context, given that India have halted bilateral cricketing ties with Pakistan since the 2012/13 season. The venue for these games will also be a talking point given that India have not played in Pakistan since 2008. However, if the edition goes through, the matches can take place in Africa given the last edition, although 17 years ago, was played in India.
The ACA is also considering a mini IPL, to be named the Africa Premier League, as CEO Cassim Suliman said. "We are planning to bring the Africa Premier League after board approval. That's what we're busy with at the moment on the sponsorship. Once that comes together, we will go to the board, the board will okay it, and then we will take it from there," he said.
"It's the mini vision of the IPL. So we're taking that concept of the IPL and driving that concept to ensure that everybody benefits in that aspect. As far as where we're going to play, the board will decide. We're going to look at facilities that are going to warrant spectator viewership. It's still at the initial stage. Obviously, we want to do things right the first time to make sure we get the ball rolling on it. But the board will decide exactly who's hosting and from there, we'll take it to them from there. It's going to be like the IPL format, but with a lower status and then we'll grow it from there,” Suliman added.
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