Asia Cup 2025: Schedule, Groups, and Format Explained

Since its inception in 1984, the Asia Cup however, has been closely contested only by the three Asian cricketing giants, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. India has won the Asia Cup a record eight times. Sri Lanka is second with six titles, while Pakistan has won the Asia Cup twice. Afghanistan, Hong Kong, UAE, Nepal, and Oman are the only other teams to have ever participated.

India, being the defending champions, will enter the tournament with high hopes. The Men in Blue also come off successive ICC tournament victories, including the 2024 T20 World Cup and most recently, the 2025 Champions Trophy. The 2025 Asia Cup was originally scheduled to be hosted by India, but has to be later relocated to the UAE, with matches to be played in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

2025 Asia Cup Schedule

The schedule for the 2025 Asia Cup was announced in July 2025, following much discussion between the cricket boards of the participating nations. 18 out of the 19 matches in the tournament will begin at 18:30 PM (Gulf Standard Time), with their start being pushed back by half an hour from the original schedule due to the extreme weather conditions in the UAE.

The tournament opener will be played between Afghanistan and Hong Kong on Sep 9. India’s encounter against arch-rivals Pakistan will be the headline clash, scheduled to be played on Sep 14, in Dubai. After the end of the group stages on Sep 19, the action will move to the Super Fours stage, which will take place from Sep 20 to Sep 26, with the final scheduled for Sep 28.

2025 Asia Cup Groups

India occupies a spot in Group A at the 2025 Asia Cup, alongside arch-rivals Pakistan, who have not won the competition since 2012. Hosts UAE and Oman are the other two teams that occupy the final two slots in the group, with the latter making its Asia Cup debut. 

Coming to Group B, last edition’s runners-up Sri Lanka headline the second group. The Lions are joined by two tough competitors, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Hong Kong occupies the final spot in Group B, and it is only their fifth appearance in the competition. 

2025 Asia Cup Format

The 2025 Asia Cup also sees the return of a unique format, the ‘Super Fours’, which was first introduced in the 2018 edition but was not used in subsequent tournaments. This format is designed to ensure that the two finalists play a minimum of six matches before the penultimate clash.

With the eight participating teams divided into two groups of four, each team plays a minimum of three matches in the initial stage. The top two teams from each group will then advance to the ‘Super Four’ stage. In the second section, all four teams will face each other at least once. Finally, the top two teams from the ‘Super Four’ standings will proceed to the final of the 2025 Asia Cup.