The 2023 Asia Cup (also known as Super 11 Asia Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the

16th edition of the men's Asia Cup. The matches were played as One Day
Internationals (ODIs) with Pakistan and Sri Lanka as the official host. It was held
in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, between 30 August to 17 September 2023. The tournament
was contested by 6 teams. Sri Lanka were the defending champions. It was the first
Asia Cup to be held in multiple countries, with four matches being played in
Pakistan and the remaining nine matches being played in Sri Lanka.
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. In January 2023,
the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) announced the pathway structure and calendar for
2023 and 2024, where they confirmed the dates and format of the tournament.
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. India defeated Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in the Final to
win their eighth Asia Cup title.

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, with India unwilling to travel to Pakistan. 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". In July
2020, an official announcement of the postponement was made by the ACC. The 2020
edition was rescheduled to take place in Sri Lanka in June 2021.
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. The tournament was postponed once again to 2023. 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. Pakistan was scheduled to
host the 2022 Asia Cup after retaining the rights to host the 2022 edition.
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.
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.
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. However, in January 2023,
ACC confirmed the teams and groups of the tournament, with both India and Pakistan
taking part.
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. The hybrid model proposed by Pakistan was
rejected by Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. 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.
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.
The groups and format of the tournament were announced on 9 January 2023, with the
six teams split into two groups of three. A total of 13 matches will be played,
which includes six league matches, six Super 4 matches, and a final. 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. 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.
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).