“India is playing Pakistan, right? When are they meeting?”
The immigration officer at Delhi airport posed a fast question on discovering out the function of journey to the United Arab Emirates. Geopolitical realities, in the aftermath of a four-day army battle between the neighbours in May that adopted a terror assault in Pahalgam, could have forged doubts on the Asia Cup in the months main up, however now that the seventeenth version of the continental occasion is getting underway on Tuesday (September 9, 2025), there may be no disputing the fixture that may occupy centrestage over the subsequent three weeks.
As has been the case in multi-nation tournaments for the previous decade, it’s not by coincidence that India — the official host — and Pakistan have been drawn collectively in Group A alongside United Arab Emirates and debutant Oman. It implies that Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka should slug it out to be amongst the two groups from Group B, additionally comprising Hong Kong, that advance to the subsequent stage. If issues go in accordance with plan, India will face Pakistan as soon as extra in the Super Four part, with a 3rd assembly doable offered each groups enter the summit conflict on September 28.
Beyond the large draw that India versus Pakistan continues to be in the eyes of the organisers although current contests counsel in any other case, the Asia Cup’s survival has been helped by its flexibility since 2016 in switching between the 50-over and T20 variations primarily based on the calls for of the cricketing calendar.
The earlier occasion in 2023, gained by India, was held in the 50-over format forward of the ODI World Cup that yr. This version, that includes eight sides for the first time in the competitors’s four-decade existence, will probably be a T20 affair to facilitate preparations for subsequent yr’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan will take on Hong Kong in the opener at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
The Men in Blue, who gained the T20 World Cup final yr, will kick off their marketing campaign in opposition to UAE in Dubai on Wednesday. After a chronic break from nationwide obligation since the finish of the Test sequence in opposition to England on August 4, India’s gamers will probably be wanting to get again into aggressive mode at a venue the place they’ve fond reminiscences of successful the ICC Champions Trophy simply six months in the past. That there’s intense competitors for locations is distinctly clear from the absence of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shreyas Iyer in the 15-member contingent.
Based on current proof, there is no such thing as a apparent challenger to India’s may. Sri Lanka was skittled out for 80 in a five-wicket defeat to Zimbabwe on September 6 whereas Afghanistan and Pakistan blew cold and hot in the just-concluded tri-series that the latter gained. Bangladesh has curiously received the higher of each Pakistan and Sri Lanka of late, but it surely has proven a worrying development of faltering in crunch conditions in opposition to India.
If there’s a ray of hope for these groups, it’s that pre-tournament expectations don’t at all times play out at the Asia Cup. After all, there has by no means been an India-Pakistan closing in all these years.
