2025 Asia Cup
The 2025 Men's Asia Cup was the 17th edition of the Asia Cup cricket tournament. It took place in the United Arab Emirates from 9 to 28 September 2025. The matches were played in the Twenty20 International format. India was the defending champions of 2023.
The tournament featured eight teams. The five full members of the Asian Cricket Council, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka automatically qualified for the tournament and were joined by United Arab Emirates, Oman and Hong Kong, the teams which finished in the top three in the 2024 ACC Men's Premier Cup. In the 2025 [Asia Cup final|final], India defeated Pakistan by 5 wickets to win their ninth title, and thus retained the title.
Background
The dates for the tournament were released in July 2024, with India initially set to act as host. However, following the Pahalgam attack in early 2025 and the subsequent escalation of political crisis and military conflict between India and Pakistan, concerns arose over the feasibility of hosting matches involving both nations in India. In July 2025, during the Asian Cricket Council's annual meeting in Dhaka, ACC chairman Mohsin Naqvi announced that the tournament would instead be held in the United Arab Emirates, with matches staged in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The UAE was selected as a neutral venue due to its prior experience hosting high-profile multinational cricket tournaments under similar circumstances.Format
The tournament was played with eight teams split into two groups of four. The top two teams from each group advanced to a single-group Super Four stage, and the top two sides from this stage contested the final.Teams and qualification
The five List of [International Cricket Council members|full members] of the Asian Cricket Council qualified automatically for the tournament. The United Arab Emirates, Oman and Hong Kong qualified following their top-three finish at the 2024 ACC Premier Cup.| Means of qualification | Date | Hosts | Berth | Qualified |
| ICC Full Member | rowspan="5" | rowspan="5" | 5 | |
| ICC Full Member | - | 5 | - | |
| ICC Full Member | - | 5 | - | |
| ICC Full Member | - | 5 | - | |
| ICC Full Member | - | 5 | - | |
| [2024 ACC Men's Premier Cup|] | Oman | 3 | ||
| [2024 ACC Men's Premier Cup|] | Oman | 3 | ||
| [2024 ACC Men's Premier Cup|] | Oman | 3 | ||
| Total | 8 |
Squads
On 9 September, Janith Liyanage was added to the Sri Lanka squad.On 15 September, Naveen-ul-Haq was ruled out of the tournament due to a shoulder injury, and was replaced by Abdullah Ahmadzai.
Venues
The ACC announced the venues of the tournament on 2 August 2025.| Dubai | Abu Dhabi |
| Dubai International Cricket Stadium | Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium |
| Coordinates: | Coordinates: |
| Capacity: 25,000 | Capacity: 20,000 |
| Matches: 11 | Matches: 8 |
Match officials
and Asian Cricket Council jointly appointed the following match officials for the tournament.Match referees
- Andy Pycroft
- Richie Richardson
Umpires
- Izatullah Safi
- Ahmed Shah Pakteen
- Masudur Rahman
- Gazi Sohel
- Rohan Pandit
- Virender Sharma
- Faisal Afridi
- Asif Yaqoob
- Raveendra Wimalasiri
- Ruchira Palliyaguruge
Tour matches
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Group stage
The ACC released the full fixtures of the tournament on 26 July 2025.Group A
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Group B
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Super Four
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Final
Statistics
Most runs
Most wickets
Controversies
The tournament witnessed a series of controversies involving arch rivals India and Pakistan, who participated in the backdrop of the 2025 India–Pakistan conflict.Ahead of a group stage match, the tournament organizers mistakenly played a few seconds of "Jalebi Baby" instead of Pakistan's national anthem, prompting criticism from the Pakistani audience.
Handshake-gate
During the coin toss of the group stage match between India and Pakistan, both captains refrained from shaking hands, reportedly on the advice of the match referee Andy Pycroft. After the conclusion of the game, the Indian players walked off without exchanging handshakes with the Pakistani side. Pakistan's head coach Mike Hesson expressed disappointment, while the PCB lodged a formal protest against Pycroft and later suspended its operations director Usman Wahla over the handling of the episode. PCB's demand for the removal of Pycroft from the remainder of the tournament was rejected by the International Cricket Council. The subsequent group stage match between Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates was delayed by an hour amid uncertainty over Pakistan's further participation in the tournament, but eventually went ahead after the PCB claimed that Pycroft had apologised for the "miscommunication", while the ICC confirmed he would continue as match referee.Breach of [ICC Code of Conduct] and Disciplinary hearings
The BCCI lodged a complaint with the ICC against Pakistani players Haris Rauf and Sahibzada Farhan for their "provocative gestures" during the Super Four match between India and Pakistan. While fielding near the boundary, Rauf made a "jet crashing" gesture and a "6-0" finger sign, interpreted by Indian media as a symbolic reference to Pakistan's claim of shooting down six Indian aircraft during Operation Sindoor. A video published by NDTV showed that Rauf repeated the same gesture after taking a wicket, indicating his actions were not limited to a single incident. Earlier in the same match, Farhan celebrated his half-century by mimicking firing a rifle with his bat, which was described as provocative and insensitive by the Indian media. The PCB also registered a complaint against India captain Suryakumar Yadav, who expressed solidarity with the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack and dedicated his team's win to the Indian Army, which the PCB alleged were "political statements".Following disciplinary hearings conducted by members of the ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees, Suryakumar Yadav was found guilty of breaching Article 2.21 and was fined 30 per cent of his match fee and given two demerit points. Sahibzada Farhan was found guilty of the same offence and was issued an official warning with one demerit point. Haris Rauf was found guilty of the same offence and was fined 30 per cent of his match fee and given two demerit points. Rauf was later found guilty of a further breach in the final on 28 September and received two additional demerit points. Because he accumulated four demerit points within a 24-month period this converted to two suspension points under the ICC framework, resulting in a two-match ban that ruled him out of Pakistan's ODIs against South Africa on 4 and 6 November 2025.
In other incidents during the tournament Jasprit Bumrah received an official warning and one demerit point under Article 2.21, while Arshdeep Singh was cleared of an alleged breach of Article 2.6, and therefore no sanction was imposed on him.
Presentation ceremony controversy
After India defeated Pakistan in the final, the presentation ceremony was delayed by more than an hour as the Pakistani team arrived late, and India refused to accept the winners' trophy and medals from Asian Cricket Council president Mohsin Naqvi, who is also Pakistan's Interior Minister and Chairman of the PCB. When Pakistani captain Salman Ali Agha was presented with the runners-up cheque of US$75,000 by Aminul Islam of the ACC, he flung it to the ground almost instantly, attracting both loud cheers and boos from the crowd still present in the stands.Despite the Indian team's objection, Naqvi insisted on presenting the trophy and medals to them himself, resulting in an impasse. India were not awarded the trophy and medals during the ceremony, and Naqvi reportedly left the stadium with the trophy. Following this, Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav celebrated the Indian victory by hoisting an 'imaginary trophy' with his team. Later he criticised the handling of the ceremony and said his team had been "denied" the opportunity to lift the trophy.
BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia described Naqvi's act of "taking away" the trophy and medals as "unsporting", and announced that the BCCI would protest his actions at the ICC conference in November. On 1 October, three days after the final, Naqvi reiterated his refusal to give the trophy to India unless the team personally collected it from him at the ACC head office in Dubai.
Broadcasting
| Territory | Rights holder |
| Afghanistan | Lemar TV SonyLIV |
| Bangladesh | T Sports Nagorik TV Toffee Tapmad |
| India | Sony Sports SonyLIV |
| Nepal | Sony Sports SonyLIV |
| Pakistan | PTV Sports |
| Sri Lanka | TV 1 |
| Australia | Fox Sports |
| United Arab Emirates | Switch TV StarzPlay CricLife |
| MENA region | Switch TV StarzPlay CricLife |
| United Kingdom | TNT Sports |
| United States | Willow TV |
| Canada | Willow TV |
| Caribbean | SonyLIV |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | SonyLIV |