Asia Cup 2023 dates and venues announced; Pakistan to host four matches

Eventually, after much conflict and heated discussions that panned for a month or two, the ACC announced its dates for the upcoming Asia Cup. Eventually caught in a rift between the political sphere of India and Pakistan, the tournament needed some intense deliberations before the dates and the venues were decided.

As reported by ICC, the Asia Cup will be played from 31st August with Pakistan and Sri Lanka playing joint hosts, and the final will be played on September 17th.

As per the schedule announced by ACC, four matches will be played in Pakistan while the remainder of the games will be hosted by Sri Lanka. Shifting back to the 50-over format, Asia Cup 2023 will be playing host to 13 matches with nine of them being played in Sri Lanka.

The tournament will feature two groups of three teams each with the top two heading to the Super Four round. The two top teams from the second stage would make it to the summit clash of the tournament that is slated to be played on 17th September.

India, Pakistan and Nepal are a part of the same group while the other group has Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan clubbed together.

Nepal made the cut for the tournament after drubbing UAE in the final of the ACC Men’s Premier Cup in Kathmandu earlier in the year. Sri Lanka will be coming to this tournament as defending champions, having defeated Pakistan in the previous edition of the Asia Cup.