Asia Cup 2025 Date, venue reveals amid uncertainty of India-Pakistan Face-off

India’s Participation in the Asia Cup 2025 is doubtful 

The 2025 Asia Cup was originally designated to be held in India, but is now likely to share the tournament’s responsibility with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). According to some media reports, the UAE and Sri Lanka were the potential co-hosts if India backed out from the Asia Cup 2025 due to Pakistan’s involvement. 

However, it is confirmed that the Asia Cup will now likely be held at a neutral venue, with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) emerging as the frontrunner. There is no doubt that the Asia Cup gets the majority of its revenue from the India-Pakistan clash. However, the tensions between the two neighbours have made a huge impact on the hosting of the tournament.

Well, it is not the first time the UAE has played a mediator when hosting India and Pakistan’s matches. Earlier this year, for the 2025 Champions Trophy, India played all their matches in Dubai due to government restrictions on traveling to Pakistan. But this time it is different, as the defending champion of the 2023 Asia Cup, India, is officially nominated as the host of the following season.

Asia Cup 2025: Start date, country, and format

The 17th edition of the Asia Cup 2025 is scheduled to be held in the second week of September. The tournament will feature the eight teams, including the defending champion & host India and four other full members- of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC)—Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka along with Hong Kong, Oman, and the UAE, who qualified through the 2024 ACC Men's Premier Cup. However, the participation of Oman is also suspicious, as their squad is no longer part of the setup due to the dispute over the ICC T20 World Cup prize money, which they have yet to receive. 

Before the commences, the Asia Cup is already in doubt as the eight teams are divided into two groups of four, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the Super Four stage, followed by a final. The venues and schedule were decided, but now, looking at the current scenarios, a few matches, especially Pakistan’s matches, are likely to be hosted at the neutral venues of the iconic stadiums of the UAE in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. 
Everything you need to know about the ACC Men’s Asia Cup 2025 schedule, including starting date, country, venue, teams, and format.

Asia Cup 2025 Group A & Group B teams:

As mentioned before in the article, eight teams will participate. These teams will then be further divided into two groups of four teams each. India and Pakistan will clash in the group stage, having been placed in group A in the Asia Cup 2025.

Why Is India's Participation Doubtful in the Asia Cup 2025? 

Following the April 22, 2025, terror attack in Pahalgam, which shook the country, India replied with a gallant Operation Sindoor, which fueled the diplomatic strain between India and Pakistan. The ongoing tension across the border led to the BCCI suspending IPL 2025 for a week.

This became the reason behind India’s doubtful participation in the Asia Cup 2025. A few reports claimed that the Asia Cup 2025 might be cancelled, and one reported that India might withdraw from the tournament because of its boycott of Pakistan. On top of that, India might not want to participate in any ACC tournament that is governed by Pakistan’s Cricket Board Chairman, Mohsin Naqvi, who is also leading the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). 

However, recently, the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) has terminated all the rumors regarding backing off from the tournament. The BCCI secretary, Devajit Saikia, denied all the rumors of India’s withdrawal from the Asia Cup.

The statement from the BCCI office said,” There is no discussion or even a remote thought about boycotting matches. We play Pakistan in the ICC events, and it will go on if our government doesn’t say otherwise. As for the Asia Cup, we will know in the coming days.”

After clearing the air, is new controversy has sparked as Sony Sports revealed the new Asia Cup 2025 poster featured the captains of prominent teams, but missing Pakistan’s T20I captain, Salman Ali Agha. 

The viral poster of the Asia Cup 2025 has included images of India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav, Sri Lanka’s Charith Asalanka, and Bangladesh’s Najmul Hossain Shanto. This raises the question of whether Pakistan will participate in the continental tournament or not. However, both the BCCI and PCB haven’t given any official statement on boycotting, as it will cost future tournaments and aggravate the relations with the ICC and ACC in the future.   

So far, we learn that India’s participation in the Asia Cup 2025 is confirmed as it will share the hosting duties with the neutral venue UAE.

Asia Cup 2025 Schedule

There have been some major updates regarding the schedule of the Asia Cup. According to Sports Tak, the continental tournament is supposed to begin from the 4th or 5th of September. The high-octane rivalry clash between India and Pakistan is expected to take place on the 7th of September, with the final taking place on the 21st of September. The host of the tournament was originally supposed to be India. However, the tensions from across the border have resulted in the tournament being shifted to the UAE.