Pakistan will host the Asia Cup of Cricket this year. The Indian cricket team has made the choice to skip the event in Pakistan that will be held in September without wavering. As a result, there is a conflict between the two cricket governing bodies. According to media sources, a deal is being worked out between the two boards so that Pakistan will host the remaining matches while a neutral location can host India’s matches.
In this regard, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) recently organized a meeting, at which senior BCCI executives as well as Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Najam Sethi were invited. Pakistan reportedly stated at this discussion that they would boycott the event if they were entirely relieved of their hosting duties for the Asia Cup.
According to what is known, this was followed by a casual meeting of PCB and ACC officials where it was decided to hold the tournament in two nations, with India’s matches moving outside of Pakistan. India will play at least five games at these neutral locations, which might be Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, or England.
Except for India, all of the remaining five nations’ matches in the Asia Cup will take place in Pakistan. However, Team India will be touring Ireland before the Asia Cup. England is another leading candidate in such a scenario. If Indian players are restricted from traveling during the World Cup, BCCI can arrange for some of its matches to be played in England.
India and Pakistan have been assigned to the same group with one qualifier in the six-nation ODI Asia Cup event, while Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka are in the other group. The final is one of a total of 13 games that must be played in 13 days. Similar to the 2022 Asia Cup, the top two teams from each group advance to the Super Four, where they compete in the championship match.
There can only be three games between India and Pakistan in such a scenario. In addition to Pakistan, one other team will advance from the qualification group to the Indian team’s group. The second group will consist of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. The Super-4 round will move the top-2 teams from each group.
Both teams will again face off if India and Pakistan make it to the Super-4 stage. In the Super-4 round, the top two teams will progress to the championship game. Both teams will compete against one another in the championship game if India and Pakistan win.
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