Asia Cup 2023: BCCI’s Arun Dhumal reveals venue for India-Pakistan clash

IPL Chairman Arun Dhumal has informed that the schedule for the Asia Cup 2023 tournament has been finalized after a meeting between BCCI Secretary Jay Shah and PCB Chief Zaka Ashraf ahead of the ICC Board meeting scheduled on Thursday. Dhumal also confirmed that the Indian team will not visit Pakistan for any of the Asia Cup matches.

“Our secretary met PCB head Zaka Ashraf and the Asia Cup schedule was finalised and it is on course as it was discussed earlier. There will be four games of league stage in Pakistan, followed by 9 games in Sri Lanka including both India versus Pakistan game and in case a third game if both teams play final,” Dhumal told news agency PTI.

“There was no such discussion held. Neither India is travelling to Pakistan nor our secretary will be travelling contrary to reports that have surfaced. Only the schedule was finalised,” the IPL chairman added.

In a recent interview with the Indian Express, Pakistan Sports Minister Ehsaan Mazari had claimed that if India insists on playing their Asia Cup matches at a neutral venue, Pakistan will demand the same for their World Cup matches in India.

Similar to the 2010 Asia Cup, the 2023 version of the tournament is expected to feature Pakistan in Dambulla, Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, Pakistan will play their only home match against Nepal and the other three matches to be played in the country will be between Afghanistan-Bangladesh, Bangladesh-Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka-Afghanistan.

Asia Cup 2023 will be held in a hybrid format, with 4 matches played in Pakistan and the remaining matches in Sri Lanka. The tournament was earlier scheduled to be held in Pakistan, but the venue was changed after the BCCI refused to send the Indian team to Pakistan.

(With inputs from PTI)

Updated: 12 Jul 2023, 11:15 AM IST