ASIA CUP 2023: Jay Shah, president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), has announced the cricket calendar for 2023–24, India and Pakistan have been placed in the same group for the Asia Cup 2023 to be held in September. Bangladesh, the defending champions Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and a team from the qualifying rounds will also be competing alongside India and Pakistan in the tournament. The host country for the Asia Cup 2023, however, is not mentioned in the schedule.
India-Pakistan in the same group for ODI Asia Cup 2023
The winner of the Men’s Premier Cup will join India & Pakistan in Group 1 of Asia Cup 2023. Although the entire schedule isn’t out yet, the competition will be played in September.
The ACC will stage 145 games during its two-year cycle, including ODIs and T20Is, as per the calendar. In the following cycles, 75 matches will be played in 2023 and 70 matches in 2024. The Men’s Emerging Asia Cup (U-23) and the Women’s Emerging Asia Cup are also reintroduced.
The women’s Asia Cup will take place in September 2024, with India and Pakistan sharing the group with a qualifier. In the other group, Sri Lanka will be joined by Bangladesh and another qualifier. India and Pakistan are placed in the same group in all of the tournament’s official schedules. Is this a coincidence or part of a deliberate strategy?
The Men’s Challengers Cup, a ten-team 50-over competition that will feature Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Bhutan, China, Myanmar, Maldives, Thailand, Iran, and two yet-to-be-named teams, will kick start 2023 according to the new calendar. Two groups of five teams each will be formed out of the teams.
A 35-over men’s under-16 regional tournament will be held in March. Eight teams from different regions will compete in the competition. The Men’s Challengers Cup’s winners and runners-up will advance to the Men’s Premier Cup. The Men’s Premier Cup is a 50-over tournament, ten teams will compete in the competition, which will be held in April, split into two groups of five teams each. Along with Men’s Challengers Cup qualifiers, the teams are UAE, Nepal, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia.
The Women’s and Men’s 50-over Emerging Teams Asia Cups will take place in June and July respectively. Following the Men’s ODI Asia Cup in September, the Men’s U19 Challenger Cup, Men’s U19 Premier Cup, and Men’s U19 Asia Cup will be held in October, November, and December, respectively.
The Men’s and Women’s T20 Challenger Cups will kick off 2024 in February and March, respectively. The Men’s and Women’s T20 Premier Cups will come after it in April and May, respectively.
The Men’s U19 Asia Cup and Men’s T20 Emerging Teams Asia Cup will take place in October and December, respectively, after the Women’s T20 Asia Cup in September.
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