The Asia Cup 2025 is scheduled by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) to begin tentatively on September 10 and take place over the second week of September. Six teams—India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and the United Arab Emirates—are anticipated to compete in the tournament, which will be played in the Twenty20 format. After an official decision is anticipated next week, the final schedule is anticipated to be made public in early July.
UAE frontrunner to host entire event
Even though India is the official host of this Asia Cup, it is unlikely that the competition will take place on Indian soil because of political tensions with Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack in April and India’s Operation Sindoor in May. The United Arab Emirates has emerged as the leading candidate to host the entire tournament. Although the ACC has not yet formally confirmed the site, the Cricbuzz article claims that promotional efforts for the tournament have already started.
The adoption of a hybrid model, which was employed in the 2023 Asia Cup, is also being discussed, which is noteworthy. India refused to cross the border when Pakistan hosted the tournament, thus the ACC moved all of India’s games—including the championship match—to Sri Lanka, where the Men in Blue won their eighth Asia Cup. India’s matches in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, which Pakistan was the official host of, had to be switched to a hybrid format. This was the first time an ICC event was run like this.
India-Pakistan to lock horns in Colombo
India and Pakistan still face each other in multilateral competitions despite the tense relations between the countries. Lately, the ICC has announced dates of two big women events, the Women ODI World Cup (in India and Sri Lanka) as well as the Women T20 World Cup (in England). It may be noted that there will be neutral venues in these matches as the India-Pakistan matches will be played in Lords, The ODI match is to be played in Colombo and the T 20 match in Edgbaston.
