The second edition of the Afro-Asian Cup featuring three day-night one-day matches will be hosted by Bangalore and Chennai in June, Sharad Pawar, chairman of the Afro-Asian Cricket Co-operation, said on Wednesday.
“It’s the first major collaboration on any sporting level between the two continents and I’m sure, it will come to be seen as a truly significant event in the world of cricket,” said Pawar, who is also the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), at a press conference in New Delhi.
The $100,000 prize money event will kick-off with the first match at Bangalore on June 6 and the remaining two matches will be played in Chennai on June 9-10.
The winner will take away a cheque of $ 25,000 while the ‘Player of the match’ will earn $5,000 and ‘player of the tournament’ would get richer by $10,000. Each participating players will be paid a match fee of $5,000 each.
Former Test opener Chetan Chauhan will be a part of the four-member selection panel to pick the Asian side that will also comprise players from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Majid Khan (Pakistan), Lalith Kaluperama (Sri Lanka) and Asim Farooque (Bangladesh) are the other three selectors who will meet in Dhaka May 11 to choose the Asian team.
The African squad will feature players from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya.
The inaugural edition, also involving three one-day internationals (ODIs), was held in Centurion and Durban in South Africa in 2005. Both the 2007 and 2008 Afro-Asia Cups are set in the ICC future tours programme and have been accorded official ODI status.
Apart from the ODIs, Bangalore will host two Twenty20 matches on June 5 among the men’s and women’s team from the two continents, said Syed Ashraful Haq, chief executive of the Asian Cricket Council.
This would be the first time that India would be hosting any international Twenty20 tournament.