Asia Cup 2023 Format, Groups, Squads & Live Streaming

The trumpets are blown, fields are set & players are geared up as Asia Cup 2023 is all set to begin on August 30. A total of six teams will participate in the marquee event & they are India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal. The Asia Cup 2023 will be co-hosted by Sri Lanka and Pakistan & the competition will be played in the 50-over format. Before the beginning of the prestigious event, let’s have a look at all the details of the Asia Cup 2023 which you need to know:

History of the prestigious Asia Cup:

The tournament first took place in the year 1984 when only three teams, Sri Lanka, Pakistan & India participated in it. India was the host nation & the inaugural champions of the prestigious tournament as they lifted the trophy under the leadership of Sunil Gavaskar. Since then 15 editions of the tournament have been played out of which India has won maximum trophies. Out of 15, India won the trophy seven times. Sri Lanka are the runners-up in the tournament in terms of number of trophies, winning six titles. Sri Lanka is also the defending champions after lifting the trophy in 2022. Meanwhile, India’s arch-rivals Pakistan has emerged victorious twice, with their last win coming in 2012.

Notably, this will be Nepal’s debut in the tournament. They qualified for the event winning the inaugural edition of ACC Men’s Premier Cup 2023, where they outclassed the UAE in the final by seven wickets.

The Asia Cup 2023 hosts

Pakistan & Sri lanka are co-hosting the tournament. However, just four out of 13 fixtures will be played in Pakistan while the rest of the fixtures will be played in Sri lanka. The decision to co-host the tournament between Pakistan & Sri Lanka was taken when BCCI refused to play in Pakistan due to the political tensions between the two nations. After considering the BCCI’s reluctance to play on Pakistan’s soil, PCB proposed a hybrid model which was accepted by ACC & BCCI both. As a result, some fixtures of the tournament will be played in Pakistan while the rest of the tournament will be played in Sri lanka.

 Asia Cup 2023 Format:

The marquee event will be played in 50-over format with ODI World Cup 2023 in the picture. Coming to the structure of the tournament. It will have two groups with three teams each playing against each other in a round-robin format. One team will be eliminated from each group after the conclusion of the group stage. On the other hand, the remaining teams will face each other in the Super Four stage. The selected top two teams from the Super Four will then play against each other in the finals.

The group stage of the tournament will be played from August 30 to September 5. Three of the fixtures will be played in Pakistan while the rest will be played in Sri Lanka.

The Super Four stage of the tournament will be played from 6 to 15 September, with five encounters being played in Sri Lanka and one in Pakistan. The final will be hosted at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 17 September.

 When was the last time the Asia Cup held in the ODI format

The last time Asia Cup Tournament was held in the ODI format was back in 2018 when India won by defeating Bangladesh in the finals by three wickets. Co-incidentally Rohit Sharma captained team India during that edition with regular Captain Virat Kohli taking a break from the tournament.

When will IND vs PAK Fixture will be played in Asia Cup 2023

Rohit Sharma-led India will take on Babar Azam-led Pakistan in a thrilling encounter on September 2 at the Pallekelle International Stadium in Kandy. It will be Pakistan’s second fixture while India’s opening fixture of the tournament. After that India will play against Nepal at the same venue on September 4.

The groups of Asia Cup 2023 are:

Group A – India, Pakistan and Nepal
Group B – Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan

Asia Cup venues

Asia Cup 2023 will be played across four venues in Pakistan & Sri lanka. Multan & Lahore will host the Pakistan leg of the tournament whereas Kandy and Colombo will host the games in Sri Lanka.

• Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan
• Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore
• Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy
• Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

Asia Cup 2023 schedule:

August 30: Pakistan vs Nepal, Multan, 3:30 PM IST

August 31: Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka, Pallekele, 1 PM IST

September 2: Pakistan vs India, Pallekele, 1 PM IST

September 3: Bangladesh vs Afghanistan, Lahore, 1:30 PM IST

September 4: India vs Nepal, Pallekele, 1 PM IST

September 5: Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka, Lahore, 3:30 PM IST

September 6: A1 vs B2, Lahore, 3:30 PM IST

September 9: B1 vs B2, Colombo, 2 PM IST

September 10: A1 vs A2, Colombo, 2 PM IST

September 12: A2 vs B1, Colombo, 2 PM IST

September 14: A1 vs B1, Colombo, 2 PM IST

September 15: A2 vs B2, Colombo, 2 PM IST

September 17: TBC vs TBC, Colombo, 2 PM IST

Asia Cup 2023 LIVE streaming Details: In India & other Countries

All the fixtures of the Asia Cup 2023 will be broadcast live on the Star Sports Network in India. The live streaming will also be available on the Disney+ Hotstar website and app.

However, people outside India have other options to view the enthralling fixtures of the marquee event. Let’s have a look at them.

Here are the squads for Asia Cup 2023 of all teams:

India:

Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Ishan Kishan, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Axar Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.

Travelling Reserve- Sanju Samson

Pakistan:

Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Saud Shakeel, Babar Azam (c),  Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Haris, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Tayyib Tahir (traveling reserve).

Bangladesh:

Litton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Shakib Al Hasan (c), Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman, Nasum Ahmed, Mahedi Hasan, Mohammad Naim, Shamim Hossain, Tanzid Hasan and Tanzim Hasan.

Nepal:

Mahamad Asif Sheikh, Rohit Paudel (captain), Kushal Bhurtel, Lalit Rajbanshi, Bhim Sharki, Dipendra Singh Airee, Kushal Malla, Sandeep Lamichhane, Karan KC, Gulshan Kumar Jha, Sompal Kami, Aarif Sheikh, Pratish GC, Kishor Mahato, Sundeep Jora, Arjun Saud, Shyam Dhakal.

Sri Lanka: Yet to be announced.

Afghanistan:

Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Abdul Rahman, Rashid Khan, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Mohammad Saleem, Fazalhaq Farooqi

Also read, When will Indian team depart for Asia Cup 2023?