India, Pakistan to be part of Asia Cup 2025; six-team event to start by early September; final schedule out soon – Report

Asia Cup 2025 will get underway amid speculations, with both India and Pakistan confirmed to feature in it. India, the host of this year's six-team tournament, might not stage it, with the UAE tipped to be its host. Although nothing is confirmed yet, the latest reports suggest that the tournament might begin in early September, around the 10th. Despite heightened tensions between the arch-rivals India and Pakistan following ‘Operation Sindoor’, both teams will feature in the multi-team event to be played in the T20 format.

While earlier reports stated that the BCCI decided against participating in the Asia Cup this year for the reasons mentioned above, a top BCCI official is on record saying that "everything around the tournament was mere speculation, and nothing had been finalized so far."

Meanwhile, earlier in June, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) announced that it was "rescheduling the ACC Women's Emerging Teams Asia Cup, previously set to commence on June 6, 2025, in Sri Lanka."

"The decision to postpone the tournament comes after consultations were held on a letter received from Shammi Silva, President of Sri Lanka Cricket Board, who wrote to the President of the ACC, seeking postponement of the event citing adverse weather conditions in Sri Lanka and health concerns owing to the spread of chikungunya disease in the region," the ACC statement said.

Besides India and Pakistan, the remaining four participating teams are Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and the UAE. Moreover, SONY LIV, the official broadcaster of this tournament, had already begun promotional activities for the Asia Cup, which was in the news of getting discarded following the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, when Pakistan-based terrorists killed 26 innocent lives in broad daylight.

After the BCCI, PCB and ICC mutually decided that a neutral venue would host all India-Pakistan matches in the current FTP, a hybrid model was chosen for this tournament, with the UAE playing its host.

Also, in May this year, the BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia denied reports of the Indian Cricket Board deciding to pull out of all tournaments organised by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) to isolate Pakistan, following the escalating tension between the two countries.