The 16th edition of the Asia Cup, “Asia Cup 2023” , which will feature One Day Internationals (ODI) matches, is being co-hosted by Pakistan and Sri Lanka and is also known as the Super 11 Asia Cup due to sponsorship reasons. Six teams are competing in the competition. It is slated to take place from August 30 to September 17, 2023.The current champions are Sri Lanka. Four matches will be played in Pakistan, and the remaining nine will be played in Sri Lanka, making it the first Asia Cup to be staged in several nations.
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Background
In March 2023, it was suggested that Pakistan continue to serve as the hosts and that all India games, including at least two India-Pakistan matches, be held at an undetermined neutral site. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka both rejected the hybrid approach that Pakistan had presented.Najam Sethi, the PCB chairman, put up two choices. The first idea was to have Pakistan host the remaining nations while India played all of its games at a neutral site. The second alternative was to have four of the group stage matches in Pakistan while holding the other matches, including the final, in a neutral location. These matches would have involved the Indian squad. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka both chose the second course of action.
Format
The tournament’s groupings and structure were revealed on January 9th, 2023, and the six teams were divided into two groups of three. There will be a total of 13 games, including a final, six Super 4 games, and six league games. Group A was assigned to the winners of the qualification competition (2023 ACC Men’s Premier Cup), India, Pakistan, and Nepal, while Group B was assigned to the reigning champions, Sri Lanka, along with Bangladesh and Afghanistan. To the Super 4, the top two teams from each group advance. The top two teams will then face off in the championship game.
A1 and A2 seeds were given to Pakistan and India. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were seeded as B2 and B1, respectively. Nepal and Afghanistan will fill the spot of the eliminated team if they both advance to the Super Four stage to finally advance to know who is the champion of Asia Cup 2023.
Teams and Qualification
While Nepal qualified for the main event for the first time through the 2023 ACC Men’s Premier Cup, which was held in April/May 2023 in Nepal, defeating UAE in the final, the five full members of the Asian Cricket Council automatically qualified for the competition being:
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
India
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
Nepal
Schedule
Pakistan vs Nepal : August 30, 2023
Bangladesh vs Srilanka : August 31
Pakistan vs India : September 2, 2023
Bangladesh vs Afganistan: September 3, 2023
India vs Nepal: September 4, 2023
Afganistan vs Sri Lanka: September 5, 2023