The excitement is building up for the much-anticipated Asia Cup 2025, which kicks off on Tuesday, September 9, in the UAE. The tournament will witness three weeks of high-octane action, culminating in the final on September 28. The 17th edition of the tournament will commence with Afghanistan taking on Hong Kong on September 9 at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Notably, 11 of the 19 matches in the Asia Cup 2025, including the final, will be played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, while the remaining eight games will be held at Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium.
A total of eight teams will vie for the prestigious title in what is expected to be a fiercely contested competition. The eight teams have been divided into two groups, with each side aiming to secure a spot in the Super 4s. From there (Super 4s), the top two teams will advance to the final. Meanwhile, the highly anticipated and most intense showdown between India and Pakistan will be played on September 14 in Dubai.
The eight teams have been divided into two groups:
Group A: India, Pakistan, Oman, UAE
Group B: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong
During the group stage, each team will play the others in their group once. The top two from each group will advance to the Super 4s, a round-robin format where the top four teams face off. The top two teams from the Super 4s will meet in the final on September 28, battling it out for the title.
India, who come into the tournament under the dynamic leadership of Suryakumar Yadav, enter as the defending champions. Back in 2023, India beat host Sri Lanka to lift the crown in Colombo.
Here are all the squads:
United Arab Emirates: Muhammad Waseem (c), Alishan Sharafu, Aryansh Sharma (wk), Asif Khan, Dhruv Parashar, Ethan D’Souza, Haider Ali, Harshit Kaushik, Junaid Siddique, Matiullah Khan, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Zohaib, Rahul Chopra (wicketkeeper), Rohid Khan, Simranjeet Singh and Saghir Khan.
India: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube , Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (wk)
Afghanistan: Rashid Khan (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Darwish Rasooli, Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Karim Janat, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mohammad Ishaq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, AM Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmad, Fareed Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Bangladesh: Litton Das (c&wk), Tanzid Hasan, Parvez Hossain Emon, Saif Hassan, Towhid Hridoy, Jaker Ali, Shamim Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Tanzim Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Mohammad Saifuddin
Hong Kong: Yasim Murtaza (c), Babar Hayat, Zeeshan Ali (wk), Nizakat Khan Mohammad, Nasrulla Rana, Martin Coetzee, Anshuman Rath, Kalhan Marc Challu, Ayush Ashish Shukla, Mohammad Aizaz Khan, Ateeq ul Rehman Iqbal, Kinchit Shah (wk), Adil Mehmood, Haroon Arshad Mohammad, Ali Hassan, Shahid Wasif (wk), Mohammad Ghazanfar, Mohammad Waheed, Anas Khan, Ehsan Khan
Oman: Jatinder Singh (c), Hammad Mirza (wk), Vinayak Shukla (wk), Sufyan Yousuf, Ashish Odedara, Aamir Kaleem, Mohammed Nadeem, Sufyan Mehmood, Aryan Bisht, Karan Sonavale, Zikriya Islam, Hassnain Shah, Faisal Shah, Muhammed Imran, Nadeem Khan, Shakeel Ahmed, Samay Shrivastava
Pakistan: Salman Agha (c), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem
Sri Lanka: Charith Asalanka (c), Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Kusal Perera, Nuwanidu Fernando, Kamindu Mendis, Kamil Mishara, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dunith Wellalage, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera, Binura Fernando, Nuwan Thushara, Matheesha Pathirana