New Delhi. The much-hyped India-Pakistan match in the Asia Cup will be held in Dambulla, Sri Lanka. BCCI secretary Jay Shah and new PCB management committee chairman Zaka Ashraf have finalized the Asia Cup schedule. IPL chairman and BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal confirmed this on Wednesday.
Asia Cup will be held from August 31 to September 17
The Asia Cup, hosted by PCB, will be held in Sri Lanka and Pakistan from August 31 to September 17 under the hybrid model. Earlier, Ashraf had expressed displeasure over the hybrid model proposed by Najam Sethi. Arrived to attend the ICC meeting in Durban, South Africa.
India-Pak match-
After the meeting, Dhumal said Shah and Ashraf had a meeting ahead of Thursday’s meeting to finalize the Asia Cup schedule. Pakistan will have four matches of the league stage, followed by nine matches in Sri Lanka. It also includes the match between India and Pakistan. If both the teams play the final then that too will be played in Sri Lanka.
Indian team will not go to Pakistan
Dhumal also rubbished reports in the Pakistani media, in which Sports Minister Ehsan Mazari was quoted as saying that the Indian team would come to play Pakistan. Only the program has been fixed. Indian team can play Pakistan (Ind vs Pak Asia Cup) in Dambulla, Sri Lanka. Pakistan’s only home match on its soil will be against Nepal. Apart from these, Pakistan will have Afghanistan vs Bangladesh, Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan matches.
BCCI’s target on Pak Sports Minister-
A senior BCCI official said, “Perhaps the Pakistan Sports Minister is not aware of the Asian Cricket Council’s earlier meeting, in which the Executive Committee had approved the hybrid model, which was suggested by former PCB chairman Sethi.” We are not concerned with the internal happenings of PCB. All we know is that the hybrid model was approved by the PCB.