Where Will Indo-Pak Matches be Held in Asia Cup 2023? | Venues revealed
In a major update coming in from the cricketing sphere, India’s matches of the Asia Cup 2023 are likely to be held outside Pakistan. After India’s firm stance of not traveling to their neighboring country for a cricket tournament while initial reports had suggested that the competition could be moved out, to a neutral venue, a fresh report now states that only India matches of the tournament could be held in a neutral venue with the remaining games set to happen in Pakistan.
The same has been claimed as per an ESPNCricinfo report which further goes on to say that UAE, Oman, Sri Lanka, and England are the names that have emerged as contenders to host India matches, including at least two India vs Pakistan encounters.
Notably, India and Pakistan along with the qualifiers have been clubbed in a group while Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan are part of the other group. The top two teams from each group will proceed to the Super 4s where the teams that finish in first and second place face off in the finale. In this way, there could be three India-Pakistan matches, which was the possibility even last time but India failed to seal a place in the summit clash.
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It is being learned that weather will be a massive factor in deciding the venue outside of Pakistan with UAE expected to record temperatures close to 40 degrees in September, which is when the tournament is scheduled. Oman’s Muscat can then be considered as a cooler alternative but a place like London will also be on the cards especially due to the massive crowd that could be expected for India-Pakistan matches.
The said report suggests that all members of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) have more or less agreed upon this resolution when they met at the ICC’s quarterly board meeting in Dubai.
