India to Host 2025 Men’s Asia Cup in T20 Format as Warm-Up for 2026 T20 World Cup
Mumbai, 30th July 2024: India will host the 2025 edition of the men’s Asia Cup cricket tournament in the T20 format, according to the Asian Cricket Council’s Invitation for Expression of Interest (IEOI). This tournament will serve as a warm-up for the T20 World Cup, which will be held in India in 2026. Historically, the Asia Cup acts as a preparatory event for the global tournament and is played in the same format.
In 2023, the Asia Cup was organized by the Pakistan Cricket Board but was held in a ‘Hybrid Model’ due to India’s refusal to travel to Pakistan, with India’s matches taking place in Sri Lanka.
The 2027 Asia Cup will feature the ODI format and will be hosted by Bangladesh, aligning with the 50-over World Cup scheduled for South Africa that year.
Both the 2025 T20 Asia Cup in India and the 2027 ODI Asia Cup in Bangladesh will each include 13 matches, totalling 26 games across the two tournaments.
The ACC described the ‘Men’s Asia Cup Tournament’ as a biennial senior men’s cricket competition involving designated Members, including teams from Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and one Non-Test playing Member selected through qualifying events.
India, the reigning champions, won the T20 Asia Cup last year by defeating Sri Lanka by 10 wickets at RPS Colombo. Mohammed Siraj was named Player of the Match for his performance of 6 wickets for 21 runs in 7 overs. India holds the record for the most Asia Cup titles, with eight victories.
