The Asia Cup 2023 was supposed to be held in Pakistan, and there were questions regarding whether the Indian cricket team would travel to the country to participate in the tournament. While there were some reports that the Men in Blue were ready to travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup, Asian Cricket Council President and BCCI secretary Jay Shah has confirmed that India will not be travelling to its neighbouring country for the Asia Cup next year.
Instead, Jay Shah has confirmed, that the Asia Cup 2023 will likely be held at a neutral venue. This comes as a result of cricket relations being strained due to political tensions between the two countries.
India and Pakistan have not participated in a bilateral series since 2013. In fact, the last time that India travelled to Pakistan was for a bilateral series way back in 2006 for three Test Matches and five ODIs. While Pakistan won the Test Series 1-0, the Rahul Dravid led India team decimated Pakistan 4-1 in the ODI series
India most recently faced Pakistan twice in the recently concluded Asia Cup held in the UAE. In the first match, the Men in Blue defeated Pakistan in a closely contested game that went till the last over, until Hardik Pandya won the match for India with six.
In the second game, Pakistan defeated India by five wickets, in what was a much more crucial encounter in the Super Four stage. India then went on to lose their next game against Sri Lanka to be knocked out of the tournament. Pakistan qualified for the final, but were defeated in the summit clash by Sri Lanka, who came back home with the trophy in hand.
India next take on Pakistan in their opening game of the T2o World Cup 2022 on October 23 (Sunday) at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia.
