Everything you need to know about the 2023 Asia Cup

Six teams will compete for the coveted title in the Men’s Asia Cup, which gets underway on August 30. Here is all the information you need to know about the most important cricket tournament in Asia:

• The 16th edition of the Asia Cup will be co-hosted by Pakistan and Sri Lanka, with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, and Nepal joining the two hosts.  Nepal will be making its tournament debut this time. They achieved qualification by taking home the first-ever ACC Men’s Premier Cup 2023, defeating the United Arab Emirates in the championship match by a margin of seven wickets.
• Although previous editions have alternated between ODI and T20I forms, the competition originally began in 1984 with the ODI format. A 50-over ODI format will be used for the 2023 edition.
• India has won seven titles (six ODI and one T20I), making them the most successful team in the competition. With six titles (five ODI and one T20I), Sri Lanka ranks second. The Asia Cup has twice been won by Pakistan. 

Group A of the Asia Cup

India Pakistan Nepal

Group B 

Bangladesh Afghanistan Sri Lanka

Asia Cup Format 

On August 30, two groups of three teams each begin play in their group in a round-robin fashion for the Asia Cup 2023. Next, the top two teams from each group will advance to the Super Four stage. There will be more round-robin games in the Super Four. The top two teams from that bracket will advance to the final, which will be held on September 17 in Colombo.

Asia Cup schedule

13 games will be contested between August 30 and September 17 as part of the 2023 Asia Cup. 

The tournament’s group round will take place from August 30 through September 5. While Sri Lanka will host the remaining matches, three of them will take place in Pakistan. From September 6 to September 15, the Super Four stage will feature five matches in Sri Lanka and one in Pakistan. On September 17, the final will take place at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka. 

Asia Cup locations

In Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the Asia Cup will be played at four different locations. The games in Pakistan will take place in Multan and Lahore, while the matches in Sri Lanka will take place in Kandy and Colombo.

Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan, and Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.

Asia Cup teams

Afghanistan

Hashmatullah Shahidi is the captain of the Afghanistan team, which also includes Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Rashid Khan, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Abdul Rahman, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad,

Afghanistan enters the competition after losing to Pakistan 3-0 in a series. The team, though, might take heart from their most recent ODI performances. In spite of losing the 2-1 series against Sri Lanka in June, they fought back to win the 2-1 ODI series against Bangladesh in July. The team will rely on its elite spinners to perform admirably in favorable sub-continental conditions.

Bangladesh

Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain Dhrubo, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Nasum Ahmed, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Naim Sheikh, Shamim Hossain, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Tanzid Hasan Sakib, and Shakib Al Hasan make up the Bangladeshi team.

In the current campaign, the Tigers defeated Ireland in a three-match ODI series, 2-0, before falling to a determined Afghanistan team, 2-1, at home in the same format. They have also experienced problems with player availability. Due to a knee injury sustained during the ODI series against Afghanistan last month, pitcher Ebadot Hossain was unable to compete in the Asia Cup. After being forced to withdraw from the tournament due to a reoccurring back injury, former captain Tamim Iqbal gave up his position as ODI captain.

India

The following players are on the India team: Rohit Sharma (captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (vc), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep

India has a number of important players who are recovering from injuries, and the team is keen to get back to its best during the Asia Cup. Their recent ODI performance has been a mixed bag of results. They swept two series at home earlier this year with strong victories over New Zealand and Sri Lanka, but they lost to Australia. They most recently defeated West Indies 2-1 to wrap up a three-game series.

Nepal

Rohit Paudel (captain), Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh, Bhim Sharki, Kushal Malla, Aarif Sheikh, Dipendra Singh Airee, Gulshan Jha, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane, Lalit Rajbanshi, Pratish GC, Mousom Dhakal, Sundeep Jora, Kishore Mahato, and Arjun Saud are the members of the squad from Nepal. 

Tournament rookies Nepal hopes to maintain their strong momentum in the Asia Cup. In order to qualify for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023, the team produced an incredible turnaround earlier this year in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2, winning 11 of their last 12 games. 

Pakistan

Babar Azam is the captain of the Pakistani team, which also includes Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Haris, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jr., Naseem Shah, Shaheen Af

This year, Pakistan has performed well in all competitions. They won an ODI series against New Zealand in April and May after losing the ODI series to them in January. Their recent 3-0 victory over Afghanistan in Sri Lanka also helped them rise to the top of the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s ODI Team Rankings. The team led by Babar Azam appears to have the ideal combination of players in each position.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka squad: Dasun Shanaka (c), Pathum Nissanaka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Janith Perera, Kusal Mendis (vc), Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Maheesh Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage, Matheesha Pathirana, Kasun Rajitha, Dushan Hemantha, Binura Fernando, Pramod Madushan.

For the 2023 Asia Cup, Sri Lanka will be without four important bowlers. Due to injury, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dushmantha Chameera, Lahiru Madushanka, and Lahiru Kumara will not participate in the six-team competition, the majority of which will be played at home. However, after winning a bilateral series against Afghanistan by a score of 2-1 and then winning an ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka is in a strong position going into the one-day international matches. 

Asia Cup fixtures