WEBDESK: Sunday’s meeting between Pakistan and India in the Champions Trophy won’t be the last time the two teams meet in 2025, as they could be facing each other again in the upcoming Asia Cup 2025 scheduled for September.
According to Cricbuzz, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has scheduled the Asia Cup 2025 for September with United Arab Emirates (UAE) or Sri Lanka likely to host the event.
The 2025 edition of the Asia Cup was initially set to be hosted by India. The tournament, however, has had to be moved after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) recently came to an agreement that all future Pakistan vs India games would take place at neutral venues.
This was after the BCCI refused to send the Indian team to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy, forcing the Mohsin Naqvi-led PCB to accept a ‘Hybrid Model’ for the ninth edition of the ‘Mini World Cup.
However, the BCCI will remain the designated hosts for the Asia Cup 2025, just like Sri Lanka were in the 2022 edition of the tournament that had to be moved to the UAE due to political unrest in Sri Lanka.
As for the participating teams, Nepal is a notable absentee from the Asia Cup 2025 after their failure to qualify. They made their debut in the competition in 2023, in which they had been placed in the same group as India and Pakistan.
Besides defending champions India and former champions Sri Lanka and Pakistan, this edition of the Asia Cup includes Bangladesh, Afghanistan, UAE, Omen, and Hong Kong. The eight teams will be divided into two groups of four, with India and Pakistan likely to be placed in the same group once again.
The top two teams from each group will then progress to the Super Four stage where matches will be played in the round-robin format. The two teams that finish at the top of the Super Four standings will then face off in the final.
