Asia Cup 2025 likely to be moved from India to neutral venue: report

Given the India-Pakistan dynamics, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has decided to move the Asia Cup 2025 to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from India to avoid any controversy about both teams not wanting to travel to each other's country, according to media reports.

The arch-rivals are expected to face each other again this year as the ACC tentatively scheduled the continental tournament for September, CricBuzz reported on Thursday.

The upcoming event is set to be played in T20 format this time around and will feature as many as 19 games. This year's Asia Cup is likely to be organised between the second and fourth week of September.

The tournament was originally allotted to India, but given the India-Pakistan dynamics, the ACC has decided that it will be conducted in a neutral country.

With regards to the venue, it has not been finalised yet. However, the ACC are believed to be vacillating between Sri Lanka and the UAE while the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will remain the designated hosts.

Prior to this development, both South Asian nations faced each other in the UAE under a hybrid model during the ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025 after India refused to send team to Pakistan.

The issue had been a point of contention between the PCB and the BCCI, which was later resolved on the condition that the sides will play their matches at neutral venues for all future matches hosted by either country till 2027.

The Asian championship will see eight teams including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, UAE, Oman, and Hong Kong, besides India and Pakistan.

However, Nepal, who remained part of the Asia Cup 2023, will remain absent from the event as it failed to qualify for this edition.

The teams will be divided into two groups like in the last edition and the top two teams from each cluster will progress to the Super Four stage, with the top two reaching the final.