Asia Cup in UAE: Cricket fans gear up for thrilling India-Pakistan match

Cricket aficionados in the country are eagerly looking forward to the India-Pakistan match after BCCI President confirmed that the Asia Cup will take place in the UAE.

The schedule is yet to be announced with the tournament pencilled in from August 27 to September 11, but media reports have suggested that India and Pakistan will square off on August 28.

The UAE, which boasts of world class facilities in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, has played host to top tournaments in the past, more recently, the ICC T20 World Cup last year.

The two rivals had clashed in a group encounter with Pakistan prevailing by 10 wickets. That was a landmark match with it being the 200th international fixture between the two countries. For Pakistan fans, it was a momentous occasion as it was the first time in 13 attempts that it had beaten India in either a 50-over World Cup or T20 World Cup match.

Interestingly, this is not the first time that India and Pakistan have faced each other in the UAE. India has won the tournament three times when it was hosted by the UAE.

Back in the inaugural edition in 1984, India had won the tournament in Sharjah with Sri Lanka finishing as runners-up. Then, in 1995, India beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets. More recently, in 2018, India had defeated Bangladesh at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium to lift a record seventh title.

India and Pakistan had played each other twice over the course of the 2018 tournament — in the group stage and the Super Four — with India emerging triumphant by eight wickets and nine wickets respectively.

With this being a T20 World Cup year, this edition will be played in the abridged format.

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• India
• Pakistan
• UAE