Afro-Asia Cup: The biggest news in town is that Virat Kohli and Babar Azam might play for the same team. Top players from both Pakistan and India will be seen playing in the same team. Arguably, the biggest moment for a cricket fan is watching India take on Pakistan in a cricket match.
Both teams have not played any bilateral series for almost 9 years. They both met last time in 2013 in white-ball and in 2007 in a test match. However, these two teams play in ICC events such as the World Cup, Asia Cup, or Champions Trophy. But now these two teams can come together to play in the Afro-Asia Cup.
As some of the media resources have confirmed, the Afro-Asia Cup might start next year in 2023. The most anticipated tournament could start in June or July 2023. Notably, it will be played in the T20 format as the first two editions were played in ODI formats in 2005 and 2007.
It means that we might see Virat Kohli, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Rohit Sharma, Shaheen Afridi, and Jasprit Bumrah playing in the same team, which will be huge for cricket lovers. As per the reports in Forbs, the ACC head of commercial and events, Prabhakaran Thanraj, also confirmed this news. He said,
“We haven’t got confirmation from the boards yet. We are still working on the white paper and it will be submitted to both boards. But our plan is for the best players from India and Pakistan to be playing in the Asian XI. Once plans are finalized we will go into the market for sponsorship and a broadcaster. It will be a massive event. Really, really big.”
Twitter reacts to the news of the Afro Asia Cup
Earlier, in the previous two editions, he saw Shoaib Akhtar and Shahid Afridi playing with Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid. Asia Xi will include top players from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan. While the Africa XI will see players from South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe.