The Long wait for the Asia Cup 2023 schedule has been over. The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Jay Shah took to Twitter to announce the schedule of Asia Cup 2023. India will start their campaign against their arch-rival Pakistan on September 2 in Kandy.
Meanwhile, Indian Head Coach Rahul Dravid acknowledged the excitement around the possibility of facing Pakistan thrice in the upcoming edition of the Asia Cup. However, he said that he would approach the upcoming tournament one game at a time. Rahul Dravid also said that playing against Pakistan in the Final
Would be a great contest but stressed that India will have to take their game one step at a time. He said:
“The schedule is out and you have to qualify for the Super4s to play Pakistan three times, so one step at a time. I don’t believe in counting my chickens too much. I want to play one game at a time,”
He added:
“We know we have to play Pakistan and Nepal in the first two games, we need to focus on that, we need to play good cricket, we need to win those games and then see where the tournament goes. If we get the opportunity to play them three times, I think that is fantastic, that means we reach the final of the tournament and hopefully Pakistan reach the final as well. That will be a great contest and great for us and we certainly aim to do that, we certainly want to play right up to the final and win that final but we have to take the first two steps before.”
It has to be noted that, India, Nepal, and Pakistan are in the same group – A, which means India and Pakistan are likely to face each other in a Super 4 clash on September 10. But if any of them fails to qualify for the Super 4 stage then Nepal will automatically qualify for it.
As the two dominant teams in the group, there is also a chance that both teams will meet each other in the final match of The Asia Cup Tournament as well.
