The Asia Cup 2025 is just a month away but the political tensions between India and Pakistan have already cast a shadow over the event. India was supposed to host the 2025 tournament but due to the ongoing issues it has been shifted to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Pakistan had asked for a hybrid model for the tournament.
After Operation Sindoor there were reports that India might pull out of the Asia Cup. No decision has been made yet but it seems India is considering travelling to the UAE to play.
In this piece we will look at the times India and Pakistan have cancelled the Asia Cup.
In 1986 Sri Lanka was the host for the second edition. India who had won the first edition in 1984 decided to sit out the 1986 tournament due to tense relations with Sri Lanka. Bangladesh took India’s place and Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh played.
In 1990-91 Pakistan also didn’t participate due to political issues with India. Without an India-Pakistan match the viewership declined and the cricket suffered. India and Sri Lanka reached the final and Sri Lanka won the title. Kapil Dev played a crucial role for India and helped them win the tournament. The 1993 edition was completely cancelled for the same reasons.
India has participated in every edition since the second one and it will be interesting to see how the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will react in the coming days. India is the defending champion. In 2023 they defeated Sri Lanka to win the title for a record eighth time.
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What if India doesn’t play against Pakistan?
If India decides not to play Pakistan the match won’t be considered a cancellation as the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is in charge. Instead it will be marked as a forfeit if India withdraws from the match against Pakistan. In that case Pakistan will get all the points and Mohammad Rizwan’s team will be declared the winner.
ACC has put India and Pakistan in the same group. The two teams will play each other on September 14. They can also play each other three times during the tournament.
India will play their first group match against UAE on September 10, second against Pakistan on September 14 and third against Oman on September 19.If both India and Pakistan make it to Super Four they will play each other on September 21. If both make it to the final they will play on September 28.
