Bangladesh grouped with Sri Lanka, Afghanistan for Asia Cup 2023

Bangladesh has been grouped with defending champion Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan. Two arch-rivals India and Pakistan have been put in the same group with a qualifier team in the six-nation Asia Cup Cricket 2023 scheduled for September.

President of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Jay Shah confirmed it while announcing the cricket calendar of the council for the year 2023 and 2024 on Thursday.

The ACC boss said that the ensuing Asia Cup will be played in 50-over format in September this year, though the itinerary and the host country have not been announced yet.

Pakistan is the original host of the Asia Cup this year but the BCCI is not keen on playing there owing to political tension between the two countries.

The Asia Cup 2023 will be a six-team affair involving India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and a qualifier team.

Sri Lanka are the defending Asia Cup champions after beating Pakistan in the final of the last tournament played in T20 format ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia.

With India set to host the ODI World Cup later this year and the focus of all the participating teams being on the 50-over format, so this year’s Asia Cup will be held in ODI format.