India-Pakistan Clash At Lanka

Mumbai, July 12: Ahead of the ensuing Cricket World Cup in India in October, both India and Pakistan will be seen facing each other at Asia Cup in Sri Lanka.

IPL chairman Arun Dhumal, according to news agency PTI, informed this on Wednesday following a meeting between the BCCI secretary Jay Shah, and the new Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) management committee chairman, Zaka Ashraf to finalize the Asia Cup schedule ahead of the ICC Board meet.

The Asia Cup matches are scheduled to take place in Pakistan and Sri Lanka from August 31 to September 17.

"Our secretary met PCB head Zaka Ashraf, and the Asia Cup schedule was finalized as discussed earlier. The tournament will consist of four league stage games in Pakistan, followed by nine games in Sri Lanka, including the highly anticipated match between India and Pakistan, and a third game if both teams reach the final," Dhumal informed PTI.

India is likely to play Pakistan in Dambulla. The other teams who will participate in the competition are Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The stamp of approval for the India-Pakistan clash in Sri Lanka brought an end to speculations over whether India would travel to Pakistan. The speculation was triggered after Pakistan's Sports Minister Ehsan Mazari expressed his reservation over the Pakistan Cricket Team travelling to India if the latter failed to travel to Pakistan. However, a senior BCCI official said the Minister might have been unaware of the hybrid fixture model proposed by former PCB chairman Najam Sethi.