Asia Cup 2025 The New T20 Format Changes Explained in Detail

June 28, 2025 Abhay Kothari Abhishek Sharma, Afghanistan Cricket Team, Arshdeep Singh, Asia Cup, Axar Patel, Bangladesh Cricket Team, Cricgasm, Cricket, Cricket News, Hardik Pandya, Harshit Rana, India Cricket Team, India vs Afghanistan, India vs Bangladesh, India vs Pakistan, India vs Sri Lanka, Jasprit Bumrah, Pakistan Cricket Team, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, T20 Cricket, Team India, Tilak Varma, Varun Chakravarthy, Washington Sundar, Yashasvi Jaiswal 4 min read

India vs Pakistan clash likely as we look at the detailed explanation of the new T20 format of the 2025 Asia Cup.

One of the most followed cricket tournaments, apart from any ICC event, is the Asia Cup. The Asia Cup, which involves some of the greatest Cricketing nations from Asia, is set to take place this year in September in T20I format. It is a tournament that reignites the historic India vs Pakistan rivalry. Apart from ICC events, this is the only place where India vs Pakistan matches take place.

But even before the tournament’s promotion is officially kicked off, the event seems to be in troubled waters. Post the horrific Pahalgam event earlier this year, India and Pakistan’s ties have taken a further dent. Aside from having any relation with Pakistan with regards to finances, there is also a possibility of the Asia Cup getting cancelled this year. However, a few months post the Pahalgam incident, things seem to have started to normalise.

The BCCI hasn’t made any decision yet with regard to their participation in the Asia Cup 2025. But there is a possibility of India and Pakistan both playing the Asia Cup, or at worst, India requesting ACC to drop Pakistan from the Asia Cup. India have the power to sideline Pakistan completely in International cricket, and that means Pakistan can be dropped. But this would mean huge revenue loss for everyone, including India, so it would be interesting to see how BCCI and other boards go about it.

No Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2025?

For some time, Sony had been promoting the Asia Cup with India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh’s T20I Captains as the face of the event. The event will be played in T20I format this year, with the T20 World Cup scheduled next year. With Pakistan Captain Salman Agha absent from the poster, it brings the speculation that Pakistan may not participate in the tournament scheduled to take place towards the end of September 2025. But while we wait for the official news, let’s quickly go through the format of this edition of the Asia Cup 2025.

The Asia Cup 2025 is expected to be played towards the end of September. UAE shall be the hosts of the tournament, which will feature 8 Teams. While India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan are direct qualifiers, Hong Kong, Oman, and the UAE played the Asia Cup qualifiers to complete the 8-member squad for the Asia Cup 2025. So, as we had seen in 2023, the event will witness 8 Teams, but it will be played in T20 format.

Asia Cup 2025 Format Explained

These 8 teams are divided into two groups of 4 teams each. As expected, India and Pakistan have been placed in the same group with UAE and Hong Kong bringing the other two teams. Whereas Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Oman have been placed in Group B. Each team will play the other three teams once, so a total of 12 group stage matches, with each team playing 3 group stage matches.

The top 2 teams from each group will then proceed to the Super 4 stage. In Super 4, each team will once again play the other three teams once. So, a total of six Super 4 matches, with each team playing 3 more matches. The top 2 teams from the Super 4 stage will then proceed to play the final. So, in all, we will see 19 matches being played in the Asia Cup 2025, which makes it the biggest International event aside from any ICC event.

Meanwhile, to recap the recent history of the Asia Cup, Team India are the defending champions, having won the 2023 edition of the Asia Cup. The Indian Cricket Team had defeated Sri Lanka in a one-sided final in 2023 under the leadership of Rohit Sharma. The event was played in ODI format, with the ODI World Cup scheduled after this. However, Team India will be playing the 2025 Asia Cup under the leadership of Suryakumar Yadav. Meanwhile, here’s the predicted squad for Team India for the Asia Cup 2025.