New Delhi: There has been confusion over the venue of the Asia Cup for quite some time now. BCCI refused to send Team India to Pakistan to host the Asia Cup. After BCCI’s refusal, Pakistan introduced the hybrid model. Which was accepted by ICC. On Thursday, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) announced the schedule of the Asia Cup. This schedule has been prepared keeping in mind the hybrid model of Pakistan. In which 4 matches will be played in Pakistan while 9 matches will be played in Sri Lanka. The first match of the Asia Cup will be played on August 31 while the final match will be played on September 17 in Sri Lanka.
This time Asia Cup will be played in one-day format. Teams from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal will play in the Asia Cup. India, Pakistan and Nepal will play in one group while Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan will play in another group. Two teams each from both the groups will reach the Super-4 and then a total of 6 matches will be played under the round robin format. After this, the two teams will reach the finals and the title match will be played between them. In this way, a total of 13 matches including the final will be played in Asia Cup 2023.
Pakistan Vs Nepal and Afghanistan Vs Bangladesh, Afghanistan Vs Sri Lanka and Bangladesh Vs Sri Lanka from the second group will be played in Pakistan. While India Vs Pakistan and India Vs Nepal match will be played in Sri Lanka. The top 2 teams from both the groups will reach the Super 4. All the Super-4 matches and the final will also be played in Sri Lanka.
An earlier report on the Asia Cup stated that Oman Cricket Board chief and ACC member Pankaj Khimji expressed his agreement with Pakistan’s hybrid model even after opposition from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan boards.
Pakistan ready for World Cup
After the settlement of the Asia Cup dispute, it has come to light that Pakistan is ready for the World Cup as well. ICC CEO Geoff Allardyce and Chairman Greg Barclay met Pakistan Cricket Board Acting Chairman Najam Sethi in Karachi regarding this. It was clarified in the meeting that after the four matches of the Asia Cup will be played in Pakistan, no condition will be placed by the Pakistani team for the World Cup. This clearly means that the Pakistan team will now be seen playing against the World Cup 2023 in Ahmedabad. While the remaining matches of Pakistan can be held in Chennai and Hyderabad.