Published: Jan 28, 2016, 09:54 AM (IST)
Edited: Jan 28, 2016, 10:08 AM (IST)
The Indian cricket team will take on their arch rivals Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2016 tournament, whereas the first match of the main round of the tournament will be between Bangladesh and India. It must be remembered that this is the very first time that the Asia Cup tournament — usually a 50-over competition — will be played in Twenty20 format. The change is obviously due to the ICC World T20 2016 tournament, which will be hosted for India for the very first time. Bangladesh will be hosting this tournament once again, and there will be 11 matches in the main tournament that will be held from February 24 to March 6, 2016. ALSO READ: Pakistan pose great threat in Asia Cup, ICC World T20 2016, feels Mushtaq Ahmed
India and Pakistan, who witnessed lot of drama around their bilateral cricket series late last year will be facing of twice in the early part of 2016. While these two teams will clash in the league round match of the Asia Cup 2016, they already have another fixture — in the ICC World T20 2016 — set to be played on March 19 at the Dharamsala stadium. ALSO READ: Star India granted media rights from 2016 to 2023
As many as four teams — Afghanistan, UAE, Oman and Hong Kong — will be taking part in the qualifying round of the Asia Cup 2016. But only one of them will advance to the main round, which begins on February 24. If there are two teams tied with the same points at the end of the qualifying round, then their Net Run Rate (NRR) will be taken into account.
The Shere-Bangla Nationaal Stadium in Mirpur will be hosting all 11 matches of the main round of Asia Cup 2016. The schedule for the T20 tournament is as follows:
February 24: India vs Bangladesh
February 25: Sri Lanka vs TBD
February 26: Bangladesh vs TBD
February 27: India vs Pakistan
February 28: Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka
February 29: Pakistan vs TBD
March 1: India vs Sri Lanka
March 2: Bangladesh vs Pakistan
March 3: India vs TBD
March 4: Pakistan vs Sri Lanka
March 6: Final
Sri Lanka are the defending champions of the Asia Cup tournament as they had won the competition last in 2014.
