Asia Cup 2025 will be played in United Arab Emirates (UAE). The tournament will start from 9th September and will run till 28th September. India and Pakistan are in the same group. The first match between the two will be on 14th September. If both the teams reach the Super-4 stage, then there can be a match between the two on 21st September as well.
Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Mohsin Naqvi has given this information. The tournament will be in T20 format. Naqvi, who is also the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), posted, “I am happy to inform that the ACC Asia Cup 2025 will now officially be played in the UAE from September 9 to 28. It will be a great tournament and we will all get to see great cricket.”
India’s first match will be against UAE. India, Pakistan, Oman and UAE have been placed in the same group i.e. Group A. While, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Hong Kong are in the Group B. All the teams in the group will play 1-1 matches against each other. India will take on UAE on September 10, Pakistan on 14th September and Oman on 19th September.
If India and Pakistan make it to the Super-4 stage, then both the teams will face each other once again on September 21. The final of the tournament will be played on September 28. If India and Pakistan top the Super-4 stage, then there can also be a third match between the two in the tournament, however the date for same will be revealed as the tournament progresses.
India has got the hosting of Asia Cup 2025, but due to bad relations between India and Pakistan, it will be played at a neutral venue. Asia Cup 2023 was hosted by Pakistan. However, India refused to tour Pakistan due to security reasons, then it was played in a hybrid model. All the matches of India were held in Sri Lanka. India defeated Sri Lanka to win the Asia Cup 2023 title.
Tension between India and Pakistan after terrorist attack in Pahalgam After the terrorist attack in Pahalgam in April, Operation Sindoor was carried out by India on 6-7 May. 26 people were killed in the Pahalgam attack. Political relations between the two countries are bad. In such a situation, Pakistan will not come to India to play in the Asia Cup. Therefore, the ACC tournament is being held in the UAE.
India won the Asia Cup 8 times The Asia Cup started in 1984. So far this tournament has been played 16 times. India won it the most 8 times. At the same time, Sri Lanka has won this tournament 6 times and Pakistan 2 times. Even the last Asia Cup which was played in the 50 overs format was won by the Indian team after trashing the Sri Lankan team.
Team India’s all matches in the Champions Trophy 2025 were played at the neutral venue i.e. at the Dubai International Stadium. Team India did not go to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy held in February and March this year. All the matches of India were held in UAE, not only this, one semi-final and final were also held in UAE. India won the title by defeating New Zealand in the Final.
Pakistan team came to India for ODI World Cup. Pakistan team came to India to play ODI World Cup in the year 2023. Then the match was played between India and Pakistan on 14 October in Ahmedabad. The Indian team won this match by 7 wickets. Captain Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer scored fifties. Jasprit Bumrah became the player of the match. He took 2 wickets for 19 runs.
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Bilateral series between India and Pakistan have been stopped since the 2008 Mumbai attack. Now both the teams now face each other only in ICC and ACC tournaments. In such a situation, whenever there is an India-Pakistan match, the eyes of cricket fans around the world are fixed on this match. In such a situation, the organizers and broadcasters earn maximum from India-Pakistan matches.
Team India last visited Pakistan in 2008. The Indian team won that series of 3 Test matches by 1-0. 2 matches of this series were drawn. Pakistan came to India in 2013 to play a bilateral series: Pakistan last visited India in 2012-13. A bilateral series of 3 ODIs and 2 T20 matches was played on that tour. Pakistan won the ODI series by 2-1, while the T20 series was tied at 1-1.
India vs Pakistan Match in Asia Cup 2025 Cannot Be Cancelled Now, These Are the 2 Major Reasons
A match will be played between India and Pakistan on 14 September in Asia Cup 2025. This match is being criticized a lot on social media. Many people believe that this match should not be held because a terrorist attack took place in Pahalgam some time ago. This attack had links with Pakistan.
After this, Indian Air Force attacked Pakistan which they named ‘Operation Sindoor’. This is the reason why many Indian fans believe that Team India should not play the match against Pakistan. However, there are also reports from media reports that this match cannot be cancelled.
The first reason why India-Pakistan match cannot be cancelled!
According to reports, a source said that ACC i.e. Asian Cricket Council says that this is not a series between two teams but a multi-nation tournament. If India withdraws from this match then Pakistan will get a walkover which will not be the right result. This match cannot be cancelled because Asia Cup is hosted by Asian Cricket Council and not ICC.
The second reason for not canceling the India-Pakistan match!
At present, the head of ACC is Pakistan Cricket Board chief Mohsin Naqvi. The broadcast rights of this tournament have been given to Sony Network, which is worth 170 million US dollars for 8 years. Many fans will watch the India-Pakistan match on TV and Sony Network will benefit a lot from this. If the match is cancelled, it will also have a huge impact on the broadcaster and revenue.
Also Read: Asia Cup 2025 To Be Played in Dubai – Reports
Not only this, all the 24 ACC members can also suffer a lot. Recently, the match between India and Pakistan Champions of the World Championship of Legends tournament was cancelled. The players of India Champions refused to play the match against Pakistan Champions, after which that match did not take place. Due to this the organizers had to suffer a lot.
Here is Team India’s Asia Cup 2025 Schedule
Asia Cup 2025 will start from September 9. Team India is in Group A with Pakistan, Oman and UAE. Team India will play its first match against UAE on September 10, after which they have to play a match against Pakistan on September 14. The team will play its last league match against Oman on September 19. All the fans have high expectations from the players of Team India in this tournament.
There Might Be 3 India vs Pakistan Matches in Asia Cup 2025?
Meanwhile, India could possibly face Pakistan three times in the tournament. The top two teams from the groups after the league stage will qualify for the Super-Fours. The top two teams in the Super-Fours will play the final. The arch-rivals are expected to clash again in the Super-Fours after the India-Pakistan clash in Group-A on September 14.
If all goes well, an India-Pakistan final is likely. It is worth mentioning here that the event was in the 50-over format in the last edition, but this year’s tournament was scheduled as a shorter format event to prepare for the T20 World Cup to be held in India next year. The final of Asia Cup 2025 will be held on September 28. However, the venues have not been decided yet.