Asian Cricket Council, on Thursday (June 15), officially approved the hybrid model presented by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). A total of four matches will be played in Pakistan while Sri Lanka will host the remaining nine matches of the tournament. India will play all their matches in Sri Lanka due to their inability to travel to Pakistan with strained political relations between the two countries.
Asia Cup this year is of huge importance as it will be played in the ODI format as teams prepare for the World Cup in India in October-November. Asia Cup in the ODI format last happened in 2018, ahead of the 2019 World Cup. Intrerestingly, Virat Kohli will be playing the ODI Asia Cup for the first time in nine years as he was rested from the 2018 edition.
He last featured in the tournament in the 50-over format way back in 2014 when India had failed to qualify for the final. They had won against Afghanistan and Bangladesh only and lost to Pakistan and Sri Lanka. India had lost both those matches by close margin. Perhaps, Shahid Afridi had stolen the match from India’s grasp taking Pakistan to victory by one wicket while Sri Lanka had won by just two wickets.
In the ODI Asia Cup, Kohli has scored 613 runs in 10 innings at an average of 61.3 and a high score of 183. He has scored 1 fifty and 3 centuries and will be keen on adding more runs to his tally in the upcoming edition. Asia Cup will also help India and other teams to set their combination for the World Cup that is reportedly set to start on October 5.
