Indian cricket experts had scoffed at the very idea of Australia hosting a tournament down under, at which the BCCI could have been a little more concerned once Pakistan is in the fray. This comment was attributed to Australia having no superior teams, but the resignation to the much bigger issue of a future India-Pakistan encounter was obvious. Any sane minds questioned how Australia could have had such an event if the India-Pakistan match were actually to be played with some degree of uncertainty.
The ICC Men’s ODI World Cup is another set of matches that involve both sides where Pakistan made it into the eight teams on a round-robin basis. The deal with the ICC says PCB and BCCI; hence, there will be no matches of Pakistan on Indian soil, not yet deciding the venue.
BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla mentioned that whatever the Indian government decides, the board will go along with that. But the officials of the BCCI have not offered any comments lately and do not want to speak on it for some time.
Next, 2026 will have men’s ICC tournaments and T20 World Cups in India and Sri Lanka in February-March; thus, the BCCI is focused on the Asia Cup scheduled for this September in India. Earlier reports suggested that the matches would be played in some neutral venue, with the options of Dubai or Sri Lanka.
Newer info suggests that the Asian Cricket Council sold the media rights for the Asia Cup, valued at $170 million for four editions, based on an understanding that each edition would include at least two India-Pakistan games, maybe three if they meet in the final. This deal leans more towards the middle than the start or end, meaning the 2025 edition will cost around $38 million instead of the usual $42.5 million.
The last Asia Cup was held in 2023 before the ODI World Cup, using a hybrid model under which India and Pakistan were housed in the same group and hence played against one another two times, once in the group stage, and once in Super Four. The second match was washed out, while it was India who progressed to the final and won against Sri Lanka, as Pakistan could not make the cut.
