India-Pakistan Asia Cup matches to be held in Sri Lanka: IPL Chairman Arun Dhumal

New Delhi: The much-anticipated Asia Cup games between India and Pakistan will be held in Sri Lanka, as the Indian team will not travel to Pakistan. This was confirmed by IPL chairman Arun Dhumal, who is in Durban for the ICC Chief Executives Meet (CEC).

Dhumal said that BCCI secretary Jay Shah and PCB representative head Zaka Ashraf met ahead of the ICC Board meeting scheduled on Thursday to finalize the schedule. The four league-stage games between India and Pakistan will be held in Sri Lanka, along with the rest of the tournament.

Dhumal rubbished reports that India would be travelling to Pakistan, as had been claimed by Pakistani sports minister Ehsan Mazari. He said that there was no such discussion and that neither India nor the BCCI secretary would be travelling to Pakistan.

The only home match for Pakistan will be against minnows Nepal. The other three games in Pakistan will be Afghanistan vs Bangladesh, Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka, and Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan.

The decision to hold the India-Pakistan matches in Sri Lanka is a result of the ongoing political tensions between the two countries. India has not played a bilateral series with Pakistan since 2012, and the two teams have only met in ICC tournaments since then.

The Asia Cup is scheduled to be held from September 27 to October 16, 2023.