The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has confirmed that the much-awaited Asia Cup 2023 will be held from 31 August to 17 September 2023. Asia Cup teams this year include India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Nepal who will compete in a total of 13 ODI matches in a hybrid model. The suspense over the Asia Cup venue is also over. Four matches of the continental tournament will be played in Pakistan and the remaining nine matches will be hosted by Sri Lanka. The competition follows a similar format like last year. However, this time around the tournament will be played in the 50-over format unlike the last edition of the competition which was played in the T20 format.
The official confirmation from the ACC ends months of specualation over the marquee event. The tournament was orginally slated to be held entirely in Pakistan. However, a hybrid model was proposed after India refused to travel to Pakistan and hence the arrangement of four games in Pakistan and nine in Sri Lanka was accepted. A detailed schedule clarifying match-by-match Asia Cup 2023 date though has not yet been released.
All the participating teams in the tournament have been divided into two groups with two teams from each group qualifying for the Super Four stage of ythe tournament. The teams that finish top two then will proceed to the final. With the World Cup this year set to be played in the ODI format, this will be a significant competition to see how well-prepared teams are to play in that tournament also in subcontinental conditions of India.
While UAE was being mulled as an alteranate venue instead of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and with some reports citing that even India raised concerns over the extreme weather there in September which was the reason Sri Lanka got the final nod along with Pakistan. Initial reports had suggested that injured Indian players Jasprit Bumrah and Shreyas Iyer will be eyeing a comeback into the team with this tournament ahead of the World Cup.