India to host 2025 Men's Asia Cup T20, followed by 2026 World Cup

India will host the 2025 edition of the Men's Asia Cup in T20 format, as announced by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in its Invitation for Expression of Interest (IEOI). This tournament will serve as a precursor to the T20 World Cup scheduled in India for 2026.

Since 2016, the Asia Cup has been used as a preparatory event for the World Cup format, and the upcoming tournament in India will continue this tradition. The 2023 edition was hosted by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) under a 'Hybrid Model,' with India playing their matches in Sri Lanka due to travel restrictions.

The 2027 Asia Cup will revert to the ODI format, to align with the 50-over World Cup taking place in South Africa that year. Both the T20 Asia Cup in 2025 and the 50-over event in 2027 will feature 13 games each, with 26 matches scheduled in total.

The ACC's IEOI statement defined the Men's Asia Cup as a biennial senior men's cricket tournament involving teams from Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and one non-Test playing ACC member selected through qualifying events.

India, the defending Asia Cup champions, have won three of the last four editions. They defeated Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in the final of the 2023 50-overs edition held in Colombo.