Asia Cup 2023: Schedule, Format, Venue and Background

The 16th Asia Cup will be held in 2023. All of the games will be One Day Internationals (ODIs), and Pakistan and Sri Lanka will both be in charge of hosting. Six teams will compete in the event. It will take place in August and September of 2023. Sri Lanka is the current winner. It will be the first time that more than one country is in charge of the Asia Cup. Four games will be played in Pakistan, and the other nine will be played in Sri Lanka.

Background:

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, which are all full members of the Asian Cricket Council, will all play in the event. Nepal will join them because they won the ACC Men’s Premier Cup in 2023. Nepal would play in the ACC Asia Cup for the first time since it would be their first time qualifying. The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) announced the schedule and format of the route for 2023 and 2024 in January 2023. Where they agreed on the tournament’s times and rules. The event was supposed to happen in 2021, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it had to be moved to 2023. On July 19, 2023, the schedule for the event was made public. After a meeting with the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in June 2020, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said that Sri Lanka could host the 2020 Asia Cup, since India didn’t want to go to Pakistan. After the meeting, the ACC sent out a news statement that said, “In light of the effects and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, possible venues for the 2020 Asia Cup were discussed, and it was decided to make the final decision when the time was right”. In July 2020, the ACC made it public that the event would be moved. The event that was supposed to happen in 2020 will now happen in Sri Lanka in June 2021.

India made it to the final of the World Test Championship in June 2021, which was scheduled to take place in June 2021. This meant that the event might have to be moved again. The event will not happen until 2023. In May 2021, the ACC stated that the 2021 tournament would be moved to 2023. They said that it would be hard to find a time for the tournament because COVID-19 was still making it hard to plan other cricket events. Pakistan was going to hold the 2022 Asia Cup because they had kept the right to do so. But after a meeting with the ACC in October 2021, Ramiz Raja said that Pakistan would host the tournament in 2023 and Sri Lanka would host the tournament in 2022.

Clash Between BCCI and PCB on Asia Cup 2023:

Jay Shah, the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), said in October 2022 that India would not go to Pakistan as long as there was political tension between the two countries. Even though Pakistan was already chosen as the host, he said, “The Asia Cup 2023 will be held at a neutral venue”. In response to this comment, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) asked the ACC board to meet right away to talk about “this important and sensitive matter.” The PCB said that this comment could affect Pakistan’s ability to take part in the CWC in 2023 and other ICC events in India from 2024 to 2031.

In December 2022, Ramiz Raja, who was then the head of the PCB, said that Pakistan might drop out of this event if they lose the right to hold it because India doesn’t want to go to Pakistan, Bbt in January 2023, the ACC announced the teams and groups for the event, and India and Pakistan were both included.

In March 2023, it was suggested that Pakistan stay as hosts and that all India games, including at least two games between India and Pakistan, be played at a neutral location that has not yet been decided. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh turned down Pakistan’s idea of a mixed plan. In answer, Najam Sethi, the head of the PCB, suggested two choices. The first choice was for India to play all of their games at a neutral site, while Pakistan would host the other teams. The second choice was to have four of the group stage matches in Pakistan and the rest, including the final, at a neutral site. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh chose the second choice.

Format of Asia Cup 2023:

The Asian Cricket Council said on June 15, 2023, that the event will be held in a mixed way, with four games in Pakistan and the other nine games in Sri Lanka.

On January 9, 2023, the tournament’s groups and rules were revealed. The six teams were split into two groups of three. There will be a total of 13 games. There will be six league games, six Super 4 games, and a final. The winners of the qualifying tournament (2023 ACC Men’s Premier Cup)—India, Pakistan, and Nepal—have been put in Group A. The reigning champions, Sri Lanka, are in Group B with Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The Super 4 will be made up of the top two teams from each group. From there, the final will be between the top two teams.

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Teams and qualification:

Pakistan and India were both given the A1 and A2 seeds. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, on the other hand, were ranked B1 and B2. If Nepal and Afghanistan make it to the Super Four level, they will take the spot of the team that got knocked out (Pakistan or India in Group A and Sri Lanka or Bangladesh in Group B).

Group A

Group B

Asia Cup 2023 Schedules: