The Asia Cup 2018 schedule is out and it would feature the much-anticipated India-Pakistan game on September 19 in Dubai. The tournament will consist of 5 directly qualified teams namely India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The sixth slot will be filled by a qualifier nation.
Hong Kong, Malaysia, Nepal, Oman, Singapore and the hosts UAE will be competing for the last place. The tournament will start from September 15. Sri Lanka, the winners of the 2014 edition, will take on Bangladesh at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
This year, the Asia Cup will be played in the 50-over format. The last edition of 2016 was played in the shortest format of the game in Bangladesh where India beat the host to be crowned the Champions.
The format of Asia Cup 2018
The six teams will be divided into 2 groups of 3 each. India, Pakistan and the qualifier team will be in the Group A. The Group B will be comprised of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The top 2 teams from each group will qualify for the Super Four stage where each team will play against every other team once. The top 2 teams will then make it to the final.
The new format of the tournament almost ensures that India and Pakistan will go head to head at least twice. Both the teams will be expected to qualify from Group A which would mean that they will face off in the Super 4 stage as well.
Asia Cup 2018 schedule
Group Stage
September 15 – Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka (Dubai)
September 16 – Pakistan vs Qualifier (Dubai)
September 17 – Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan (Abu Dhabi)
September 18 – India vs Qualifier (Dubai)
September 19 – India vs Pakistan (Dubai)
September 20 – Bangladesh vs Afghanistan (Abu Dhabi)
Super Four
September 21 – Group A Winner vs Group BÂ Runner-up (Dubai)
September 21 – Group B Winner vs Group AÂ Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)
September 23 – Group A Winner vs Group A Runner-up (Dubai)
September 23 – Group B Winner vs Group BÂ Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)
September 25 – Group A Winner vs Group BÂ Winner (Dubai)
September 26 – Group A Runner-up vs Group BÂ Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)
Final
September 28 – Final (Dubai)
Stay updated with all the cricketing action, follow Cricadium on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
