Reports: ACC set to announce Asia Cup 2022 schedule on July 22

The Asia Cup 2022 will be played from August 27 to September 11 and it will be held in the T20 format as a dress rehearsal for the T20 World Cup that is scheduled to be held Down Under in October-November. Meanwhile, it has been reported that the official schedule of the tournament will be unveiled next Friday, July 22.

According to reports on ESPNcricinfo, “the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is set to announce the Asia Cup schedule on July 22 and it will likely have India and Pakistan facing each other twice in the league phase.”

While the eagerly-awaited schedule is set to be out later next week, all eyes will be on who would be hosting the tournament in the first place. As per multiple reports, the 15th edition of the Asia Cup might be moved from Sri Lanka to the UAE due to the ongoing political unrest in the island nation.

India-Pakistan rivalry to be renewed in Asia Cup

While nothing has been officially confirmed yet, there were speculations that the high-voltage clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan would take place on August 28. This comes more than 10 months after their last faceoff during the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in the UAE where the Men in Green broke their World Cup jinx over India with an emphatic 10-wicket win.

Meanwhile, the Asia Cup will also witness the return of batting megastar Virat Kohli to the cricket field. Kohli is set to be rested for over a month after the conclusion of the ongoing all-format bilateral series against England as a part of the workload management. If everything goes according to plan, then Virat might make a comeback against Pakistan in the group fixture.

This is the second time that the Asia Cup will be held in the T20 format. The last instance was during the 2016 edition that was held in Bangladesh. India comprehensively beat Bangladesh in a rain-curtailed final to lift their sixth Asia Cup title.