Asia Cup 2023: Matches start on August 31; Four in Pakistan, nine in Sri Lanka

NEW DELHI: The 2023 Asia Cup will be held from August 31 to September 17, with the tournament to be played in both Pakistan and Sri Lanka, said the Asian Cricket Council (ACC).

As per the statement made by the ACC, the tournament will be hosted in a hybrid model with four games in Pakistan and the remaining nine matches in Sri Lanka, though the names of cities playing hosts are yet to be made public.

India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Nepal, the winners of ACC Men’s Premier Cup, will compete in a total of 13 ODI matches, which is seen as preparation for the ODI World Cup to be held in India in October-November.

India and Pakistan have been grouped alongside Nepal while Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are the sides featuring in the other group. Sri Lanka are the defending champions of the Asia Cup, while India won the tournament the last time it was held in a 50-over format in the UAE in 2018.

The 2023 edition of Asia Cup, which is also the 16th edition of the tournament, will feature two groups, with two teams from each group qualifying for the Super Four stage. The top two teams from the Super Four stage will then face off in the final.

The breakthrough in naming the 2023 Asia Cup schedule comes after multiple reports had emerged in the last few months that the tournament could be held in a hybrid model of staging matches, something which has also been proposed by Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Najam Sethi.

It had meant that the deadlock over hosting and organizing this year’s tournament was yet to be resolved, especially with Pakistan being the host of the 2023 edition of the competition and India not travelling to the country due to political tensions between the two countries. IANS

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