The 2023 Asia Cup (also known as Super 11 Asia Cup for sponsorship reasons)[1] was the 16th edition of the men's Asia Cupcricket tournament. The matches were played as One Day Internationals (ODIs) with Pakistan as the official host.[2][3][4][5] It was held in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, between 30 August to 17 September 2023.[6][7] It was the first Asia Cup to be held in multiple countries, with four matches played in Pakistan and the remaining nine matches played in Sri Lanka.[8][9][3] The tournament was contested by 6 teams.[10]Sri Lanka were the defending champions.[11]
The five full members of the Asian Cricket Council were part of the tournament: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. They were joined by Nepal, who qualified by winning the 2023 ACC Men's Premier Cup. For the first time, the tournament was held in a "hybrid format" with the games organised in two countries. All teams played at least a few games in Pakistan, except for India, who refused to travel to Pakistan due to disapproval from the Indian government.[12][13][14] In January 2023, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) announced the pathway structure and calendar for 2023 and 2024,[15][16] where they confirmed the dates and format of the tournament.[17] Originally, the tournament was scheduled to take place in 2021, but was postponed to 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The fixtures for the tournament were announced on 19 July 2023.[18] India defeated Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in the final to win their eighth Asia Cup title; with a record number of balls remaining (263).
Background
In June 2020, following a meeting with the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said they would be willing to let Sri Lanka host the 2020 Asia Cup,[19] with India unwilling to travel to Pakistan.[20] The ACC issued a press release following the meeting stating that "in light of the impact and consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, possible venue options for the Asia Cup 2020 were discussed and it was decided to take the final decision in due course".[21] In July 2020, an official announcement of the postponement was made by the ACC.[22] The 2020 edition was rescheduled to take place in Sri Lanka in June 2021.[23]
In March 2021, the tournament was at risk of a further postponement after India qualified for the final of the World Test Championship, which clashed with the proposed dates in June.[24] The tournament was postponed once again to 2023.[25] In May 2021, the ACC announced that the 2021 tournament would be deferred to 2023, citing that it would be difficult to schedule the tournament due to the continued impact of COVID-19 on the scheduling of other cricket events.[26][27] Pakistan was scheduled to host the 2022 Asia Cup after retaining the rights to host the 2022 edition.[28] However, in October 2021, following a meeting with the ACC, Ramiz Raja confirmed that Pakistan would host the tournament in 2023, with Sri Lanka hosting the 2022 edition.[29]
In October 2022, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary and ACC President Jay Shah announced that India would not travel to Pakistan, citing security concerns, and that the Asia Cup 2023 would take place in a neutral venue. [30] In December 2022, the then PCB chairman Ramiz Raja said that Pakistan might consider pulling out of the tournament if their hosting rights were withdrawn because of India's unwillingness to travel to Pakistan.[31] However, in January 2023, ACC confirmed the teams and groups of the tournament, with both India and Pakistan taking part.[32]
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had threatened to boycott the 2023 Cricket World Cup if the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) refused to send a team to the 2023 Asia Cup scheduled in Pakistan.[33][34] In March 2023, it was proposed that Pakistan remain as hosts and that all India matches - including at least two India-Pakistan contests - would be played at a neutral venue yet to be confirmed.[35] The hybrid model proposed by Pakistan was rejected by Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.[36] In response, PCB Chairman Najam Sethi proposed two options. The first option was that India play all their matches at a neutral venue with Pakistan hosting the rest of the teams. The second option was that four matches in the group stage take place in Pakistan whereas the second phase, in which matches played by the Indian team followed by the next stage matches including the final, be played at a neutral venue. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh agreed to the second option.[37]
On 15 June 2023, the Asian Cricket Council announced that the tournament would be organized in a hybrid model with four matches being held in Pakistan, and the remaining nine in Sri Lanka.[38]
Format
The groups and format of the tournament were announced on 9 January 2023, with the six teams split into two groups of three.[39] A total of 13 matches will be played, which includes six league matches, six Super 4 matches, and a final.[40]India, Pakistan and Nepal, champions of the qualifier event (2023 ACC Men's Premier Cup), were placed in Group A, while the defending champions Sri Lanka was grouped with Bangladesh and Afghanistan in Group B.[41] The top two teams from each of the groups will progress to the Super 4. From there, the top two teams will play each other in the final.[42]
Pakistan and India were seeded as A1 & A2, and Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were seeded as B2 & B1.
In case Nepal and Afghanistan qualify for the Super Four stage, they will take the slot of the team knocked out (Pakistan or India in Group A and Sri Lanka or Bangladesh in Group B).[13][43]
Ahead of the tournament, Ebadot Hossain was ruled out of Bangladesh's squad due to an injury and was replaced by Tanzim Hasan Sakib.[51]Saud Shakeel was added to Pakistan's squad, with Tayyab Tahir moved into the reserves.[52]Sanju Samson was added to India's squad as reserves.[53] Initially, on 30 August 2023, Liton Das was ruled out from Bangladesh's squad for the entire tournament with a viral fever, with Anamul Haque named as his replacement.[54] However after missing out Bangladesh's initial two matches, Das joined the squad after he was declared fit on 2 September 2023.[55] On 5 September 2023, Najmul Hossain Shanto was ruled out of Bangladesh squad for rest of the tournament after he sustained a hamstring injury during their Group Stage match against Afghanistan.[56] On 13 September Naseem Shah was ruled out of Pakistan squad for rest of the tournament after he sustained a shoulder injury during their Super Four match against India.[57] On 16 September Axar Patel was ruled out of India squad for the Asia Cup Final after he sustained multiple injuries during their Super Four match against Bangladesh, he was replaced by Washington Sundar[58] Ahead of the final, Maheesh Theekshana was ruled out of Sri Lanka's squad due to sustaining hamstring injury and was replaced by Sahan Arachchige.[59]
Mohammad Nabi (Afg) scored fastest fifty (24 balls) for Afghanistan in ODIs.[64]
As the result of this match, Sri Lanka qualified for the Super Four and Afghanistan were eliminated.
Super Four
As tournament organisers, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced that 11 September would be a reserve day for the Super Four clash between India and Pakistan.[65] If the reserve day is triggered, the match will continue on 11 September from the point it was suspended.[66]
India became the first team to qualify for the final after they beat Sri Lanka by 41 runs on 12 September. They made the tournament's final for the tenth time.[67] Two days later, Sri Lanka made their 12th final, 11th in the ODI format of the tournament, after they defeated Pakistan by two wickets in a rain-disrupted match.[68]
Mustafizur Rahman (Ban) became the quickest bowler for Bangladesh to reach 150 wickets in ODIs in terms of matches (91), surpassing Abdur Razzak (108).[78]
Mohammed Siraj (Ind) became the second quickest bowler to reach 50 ODI wickets in terms of balls bowled (1,002).[80] He picked his first five-wicket haul in ODIs,[81] which was the joint quickest in terms of balls bowled (16).[82] He also claimed four wickets in an over, the first Indian bowler to do so in ODIs.[80]
Sri Lanka's 50 was their second lowest total in ODIs, and the lowest by any team in Asia Cup tournaments, below Bangladesh's 87 in 2000.[83] It was also their shortest completed innings in ODIs in terms of balls faced (92), and fifth overall.[84]
This was India's highest margin of victory in ODIs, in terms of balls remaining (263).[85]
Statistics
Most runs
The top five highest run scorers (total runs) in the tournament are included in this table.[86]
^"India bat first and slot Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli at No. 3 and 4". ESPNcricinfo. 2 September 2023. Even though Pakistan are the official hosts of the tournament, the Indian government didn't allow the team to travel to Pakistan, which meant the contest had to take place at a neutral venue: Pallekele in Sri Lanka.
