Asia Cup schedule announced: India-Pakistan placed in same group despite diplomatic tensions

After months of back-and-forth diplomatic back-and-forth, the official schedule for the 2025 Asia Cup has been released, announced by the Asian Cricket Council president Mohsin Naqvi on social media today (July 26).

When and where will the 2025 Asia Cup be played?

The Asia Cup will be played in the UAE between September 9-September 28. India, the defending champions, are the official hosts of the tournament, but the matches will be played in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Asia Cup 2025: Full schedule

Group stages

Super Fours

Schedule pic.twitter.com/tFPlPN7JGd

— Mohsin Naqvi (@MohsinnaqviC42) July 26, 2025

India and Pakistan could face each other thrice

India and Pakistan have been placed in the same group - Group A - that also has UAE and Oman. Group B will see Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Hong Kong fight it out.

The top two teams from both groups will qualify for the Super Fours, where each team will play each other once. The top two then will qualify for the final on September 28.

This guarantees at least one India vs Pakistan clash in the first round of the Asia Cup, which is scheduled for September 14. If both teams qualify for the Super Fours - which is highly probable - and then the final, they'll face each other a further two times.

This comes after months of uncertainty following rising political tensions between India and Pakistan. After the Pahalgam terror attack in April, India and Pakistan engaged in military conflict in May, which saw the IPL and PSL getting postponed as diplomatic relations between the two nations worsened.

India also reportedly threatened to pull out of the annual ACC meeting earlier this week in Dhaka citing concerns over the venue of the meet, but eventually relented.