Credit: BCCI/ICC
Indian sports ministry has dropped a notable verdict on the upcoming match between Team India and Pakistan to be played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in the Asia Cup 2025 on September 14. Since the release of the schedule, opposition parties are raising questions on BCCI’s decision of allowing Team India to play the match against Pakistan in the continental tournament. On April 22, 2025, Pahalgam Attack was executed by terrorists in Kashmir and following that, India accused its neighbour of supporting the perpetrators. After this incident, the relations between two South Asian countries hit a new low. India, on May 7, launched Operation Sindoor and claimed to destroy several terror camps in Pakistan. Following these developments, opposition parties are creating pressure on the government to prohibit BCCI from allowing India to play against Pakistan in the upcoming fixture.
However, India’s Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has released a statement in which it declared that it won’t allow the bilateral series between both teams but as far as the Asia Cup 2025 is concerned, India will be permitted to square off against Pakistan as it is a multilateral tournament. "India's approach to sports events involving Pakistan reflects its overall policy in dealing with that country. In so far as bilateral sports events in each other's country are concerned, Indian teams will not be participating in competitions in Pakistan. Nor will we permit Pakistani teams to play in India. We will not stop Indian cricket team from playing in Asia Cup as it is multilateral," said the ministry source.
India will start their Asia Cup 2025 campaign on September 10
Team India will kick off their Asia cup 2025 campaign on September 10 with the game against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) while Pakistan will play their opening match against Oman on September 12. Following their maiden matches, both arch-rivals will square off against each other on September 14.
Both teams last played against each other in the Champions Trophy 2025 game played in Dubai. India won that game by a convincing margin of six wickets and Virat Kohli became the player of the match (POTM) for his unbeaten 100 off 111.
