India, Pakistan reportedly expected to take part in Asia Cup 2025, likely dates out

The Asia Cup 2025 is likely to take place in September, with the schedule expected in early July. As per a latest report, the UAE is being tipped to host the tournament amid political tensions following the Pahalgam attack. read more

The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is likely to take a final call on the next week. According to Cricbuzz, the official schedule for the tournament could be released in the first week of July if everything goes well. The tournament is expected to start in the second week of September, most likely on 10 September.

UAE frontrunner to host Asia Cup 2025

This year’s Asia Cup is supposed to be played in the T20 format. The six teams expected to participate are India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and the UAE. Promotional work for the tournament has reportedly begun, even though an official announcement is still awaited.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is currently the favourite to host the tournament. However, there are also talks about having a hybrid model. India is the official host this time. The Asia Cup is usually moved to a neutral venue when India or Pakistan are slated to host due to political tensions.

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History of hybrid models in IND-PAK events

The 2023 Asia Cup, which was played in the ODI format ahead of the Cricket World Cup, was also conducted in a hybrid model as Pakistan was the official host at the time. India refused to travel to Pakistan and their matches were exclusively held in Sri Lanka. The final was also moved to the island nation after India qualified.

Earlier this year, India refused to travel to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, and the organisers were forced to conduct the tournament in a hybrid model. India’s matches were held in the UAE, and later the final was also shifted there after the Men in Blue qualified for the summit clash.

This was the first time an International Cricket Council (ICC) event was held in such a format. Following that, Pakistan announced that they would not travel to India for any event in the future, at least until the next Future Tours Program (FTP) cycle ends in 2027.

Meanwhile, the future of this year’s Asia Cup came under a cloud after the terror attack in Pahalgam in April, and later India’s Operation Sindoor in May made the situation even more tense between India and Pakistan. Many people in India called for a boycott of Pakistan in all multilateral cricket events.

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The ICC recently announced the schedule for two major global tournaments – the Women’s ODI World Cup (to be played in India and Sri Lanka) and the Women’s T20 World Cup (to be held in England). Even though India and Pakistan are set to clash in both tournaments, their matches will be played at neutral venues.

The T20 World Cup is already being hosted in a neutral country, so there’s no problem there. However, the ODI World Cup is scheduled to be held in India and Sri Lanka. Due to Pakistan’s refusal to travel to India, the India vs Pakistan game will be played in Colombo.

This suggests that India vs Pakistan matches will continue to take place in ICC events despite the ongoing rhetoric by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

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