According to the schedule that was released for the Asia Cup on Wednesday, two of the most bitter rivals in cricket, Pakistan and India, will play each other in a one-day international match for the first time in four years on September 2 in Sri Lanka.
The six-nation tournament will begin on August 30, with four matches taking place in Pakistan and the rest nine matches taking place in Sri Lanka. One of the most anticipated matchups will be between India and Pakistan in Kandy.
Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, will play host to five of the Super Four stage matches, as well as the tournament’s championship match on September 19.
Group A is comprised of Pakistan, India, and Nepal, while Group B is comprised of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.
If both Pakistan and India make it through to the Super Four stage, they will play each other once more on September 10 in Colombo. The top two teams from each group will advance to the Super Four stage.
The championship match will be played between the top two teams from the Super Four stage.
The 50-over format of the Asia Cup will be used so that five of the six teams, with the exception of Nepal, will have the opportunity to prepare for the One-Day International World Cup, which will take place from October 5 through November 19.
After a yearlong standoff, the Asia Cup fixture announcement has brought an end to the impasse. This comes after India declined to tour the host country of Pakistan due to political concerns, which raised doubts about the event’s ability to take place.
A hybrid concept was decided upon earlier this month, with four matches scheduled to take place in Pakistan and the remaining nine scheduled to take place in Sri Lanka.
After the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008, which New Delhi said were carried out by Islamabad-backed extremists, India froze all of its bilateral cricket connections with Pakistan.
The Asia Cup, which was played for the first time in 1984, was another victim of the deteriorating relations between India and Pakistan. India withdrew from the competition in 1986, while Pakistan would not take part in the competition again until 1992.
The South Asian rivals have not competed against one another since 2012, when they were eliminated from the last bilateral series.
Their most recent One-Day International match took place at the 2019 World Cup in England.
Schedule:
30 Aug – Pakistan v Nepal, Multan
31 Aug – Bangladesh v Sri Lanka, Kandy
2 Sep – Pakistan against India, Kandy
Lahore, Pakistan, on September 3: Bangladesh takes on Afghanistan
4 Sep – India against Nepal, Kandy
5 Sep – Afghanistan v Sri Lanka, Lahore
6 September, Lahore, Super-4 match between A1 and B2
9 September, Colombo, Super-4 match between B1 and B2
10 September, Colombo, Super-4 match between A1 and A2
12 September, Colombo, Super-4 match between A2 and B1
14 Sep – A1 v B1 (Super-4), Colombo
15 September, Colombo, Super-4 match between A2 and B2
17 Sep – Final – 1 v 2, Colombo
Reserve day for the final is September 18th.