In a significant development ahead of Asia Cup, the schedule of the multi-nation tournament has been released. According to India Today, the marquee clash between India and Pakistan will take place on September 14, while the former will open their campaign against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on 10.
A few hours ago, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi had released the dates of the tournament to be from September 9 to September 28. Abu Dhabi and Dubai will stage all the games despite India originally being the designated hosts of the tournament. With the BCCI refusing to send its men's side to Pakistan for Champions Trophy 2025 earlier this year and opting for a hybrid model, Pakistan have also done the same.
As per India Today, India, Pakistan, UAE and Oman are in Group A. Group B consists of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Hong Kong. 2 teams will qualify from each group from the initial stage, while each side will face the other three teams once in the Super 4 stage.
India and Pakistan can meet one another at least thrice in the group.
Below is the schedule of Asia Cup 2025 as per India Today:
Group Stage
9 September (Tuesday): Afghanistan vs Hong Kong
10 September (Wednesday): India vs UAE
11 September (Thursday): Bangladesh vs Hong Kong
12 September (Friday): Pakistan vs Oman
13 September (Saturday): Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka
14 September (Sunday): India vs Pakistan
15 September (Monday): Sri Lanka vs Hong Kong
16 September (Tuesday): Bangladesh vs Afghanistan
17 September (Wednesday): Pakistan vs UAE
18 September (Thursday): Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan
19 September (Friday): India vs Oman
Super 4
20 September (Saturday): Group B Qualifier 1 vs Group B Qualifier 2
21 September (Sunday): Group A Qualifier 1 vs Group A Qualifier 2
22 September (Monday): Rest Day
23 September (Tuesday): Group A Qualifier 1 vs Group B Qualifier 2
24 September (Wednesday): Group B Qualifier 1 vs Group A Qualifier 2
25 September (Thursday): Group A Qualifier 2 vs Group B Qualifier 2
26 September (Friday): Group A Qualifier 1 vs Group B Qualifier 1
27 September (Saturday): Break Day
Final
28 September (Sunday): Final Match
Team India are the defending champions ahead of Asia Cup 2025
India, meanwhile, are the defending champions ahead of Asia Cup 2025. They had won the 50-over edition in 2023 by defeating Sri Lanka in the final by ten wickets.
The BCCI had also notably refused to send the men's team to Pakistan for the 2023 edition, with Sri Lanka hosting their games. All the teams are slated to arrive on September 7 and it remains to be seen if warm-up games will be scheduled.
There could be massive uproar ahead of the India-Pakistan clash, given the recent cross-border tensions.
