India and Pakistan will face each other for the first time since the 2021 FIFA T20 World Cup when they meet in the Asia Cup on August 28 in Dubai, a day after the start of the tournament when Sri Lanka take on Afghanistan. Bangladesh started their campaign against Afghanistan on 30 August in Sharjah.The draw for the 2022 Asia Cup, which will be played in the T20 format ahead of the T20 World Cup in October, was announced on Tuesday. India, Pakistan and the team that wins the qualifying tournament form Group A, while Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh are in Group B.
All matches will start at 18:00 local time, with ten matches taking place in Dubai and three in Sharjah. The qualifying round of matches to determine the sixth team will begin on August 20 in Oman. The teams fighting for a place in Group A – along with India and Pakistan – are the UAE, Kuwait, Singapore and Hong Kong. In the main draw, each team will play the other two in their group once, and the top two teams from each group will advance to the Super 4 round, which begins on September 3.
Teams in the Super 4 round will play each other once, with the top two teams qualifying for the final on 11 September. India are the defending champions of the Asia Cup, which was last played in 2018 in the ODI format. India won the title by beating Bangladesh in a last-ball thriller in Dubai. This year’s Asian Cup was supposed to be held in Sri Lanka, but was moved to the United Arab Emirates last month due to the island nation’s ongoing economic crisis. SLC will continue to be the official host of the tournament even though it is played in the United Arab Emirates.
“In view of the prevailing situation in Sri Lanka, the ACC after extensive deliberation has unanimously concluded that it would be appropriate to shift the tournament from Sri Lanka to the UAE,” ACC President Jay Shah said.“All efforts were made to host the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka and the decision to shift the venue to the UAE was taken after much consideration. The new venue will be the United Arab Emirates, while Sri Lanka will continue to retain hosting rights.
