The Asia Cup 2023 will begin on August 30, 2023, with hosts Pakistan taking on Nepal in Multan. Pakistan are the official host of the tournament, but the Asia Cup is being held in a hybrid model, with Sri Lanka also hosting matches, including the final on September 17.
Pakistan and other teams unveiled their jerseys for the continental tournament. Pakistan, along with India and Nepal are in Group A, while Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan are placed in Group B.
The issue happened when BCCI secretary Jay Shah announced last year that India will not travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup 2023 tournament and the ACC will try to move the event out of Pakistan due to security issues.
But PCB chairman, first Ramiz Raja and then Najam Sethi retaliated to this unilateral decision and threatened to boycott the ICC World Cup 2023 which is to be hosted by India in October-November this year.
However, after much negotiations and months of threats from the Pakistani board, everyone agreed on Najam Sethi’s hybrid model where Pakistan will host 4 matches including one Super 4s game, and the rest of the matches, including India ones to be played in Sri Lanka, along with the final.
No PAKISTAN 2023 On Asia Cup Jerseys
As opposed to what was expected earlier, ‘Pakistan 2023’ will not be written on any team’s jersey at the Asia Cup 2023. Normally, all teams wear the name of the host nation on their jerseys as a sign of respect, but after Pakistan’s jersey was shown, it looked like this might not be the case at the continental championship this year.
Pakistan unveiled their new uniforms for forthcoming competitions like the Asia Cup and the ICC ODI World Cup on Monday. Social media sites were flooded with images of athletes wearing the team jerseys created for the Asia Cup.
In the video, Mohammad Rizwan interacted with the Nepal players ahead of their Asia Cup 2023 opener in Multan on August 30. It is visible that ‘Pakistan 2023’ is not written on the jerseys of both teams, which indicates that other teams will not display the host country’s name on their jerseys.
The jerseys only sport the official Asia Cup logo near the right shoulder without the host country name under it, and it is expected that the other countries will have a similar design on their respective jerseys.
This position stands in stark contrast to the one from the previous year, when Sri Lanka served as the original hosts despite the Asia Cup taking place in the United Arab Emirates. In that edition, Sri Lanka was mentioned beneath the Asia Cup logo on the jerseys of all competing nations.
India will take on Pakistan in their opener on Saturday, September 2 at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.