Asia Cup: Pakistan set to clash with India on September 19th

Pakistan and India are all set to lock horns on 19^th September for their Asia Cup game in the UAE. This is their 1^st encounter since Pakistan’s famous win against the much fancied Indian side in the Champions Trophy Final. The tournament is being played in the UAE. India are host of the tournament but there were questions if the Indian government will give security guarantees to Pakistan. Hence, the tournament was shifted to UAE. BCCI is still the host and have rented out stadiums.

Through the late 80, up to mid 2000s, Pakistan and India matches were a regular fixture in UAE. However, BCCI decided that they will not send teams to UAE. The policy has meant that India have not played Pakistan in UAE for 12 years. This, however will be the 1^st match between India and Pakistan to be played in Dubai. Overall, 26 matches have been played in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi between the two sides, with Pakistan coming up triumphs in 19 matches.

Asia Cup matches return back to the ODI format. In 2016, to prepare for the T20 World Cup, teams played T20s and India won the final to take the cup. Six team will take part. 5 Test playing nations qualify directly and the six team will come through a qualifier. The qualifier will feature six teams too: Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Nepal, Oman and UAE. Pakistan, India and the qualifying team will make up one group, while 2^nd group includes Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.

After a round robin format, the final will be played between top 2 sides on 28^th September,