The International Cricket Council on Sunday awarded matches involving Hong Kong in the upcoming Asia Cup in the UAE ODI status.

Hong Kong qualified for the Asia Cup after defeating UAE in the Qualifiers final in Kuala Lumpur. Since Hong Kong don’t enjoy ODI status, their matches don’t automatically get international status.

Hong Kong have been clubbed with India and Pakistan in Group A of the tournament and the ICC said the games will be treated as internationals.

“In order to simplify the situation we will extend the ICC Cricket World Cup principle of all matches being ODIs to other tournaments where a number of the teams have ODI status and some not, this includes the Asia Cup and ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers,” ICC CEO David Richardson said.

“The fact that these events are open to teams beyond the existing 16 teams that currently have ODI status is important and, accordingly, ensuring all matches are granted ODI status is befitting of the events and just reward for the teams that have qualified.”