Pakistan out of the 2025 Asian Cup? Promo during England vs India Headingley The test takes up the eyebrows
The world of cricket is in shock of speculation following a promotional program during Day 5 of the England test vs India Headingleywho obviously omitted any visual representation of Pakistan for the next Asia Cup 2025. The promotion, broadcast on Tuesday, presented exclusively the captains of India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, raising important questions about the involvement of Pakistan in the continental tournament.
No Pakistan in Asia Cup 2025?
The Asian Cup, scheduled for September 2025 in T20 format, generally includes the five full members of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC): India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh And Afghanistan, alongside qualification teams. However, the unexpected absence of any Pakistani player in the promotional clip, which presented Suryakumar Yadav (India), Charith Asalanka (Sri Lanka) and Najmul Hossain Shanto (Bangladesh), fueled the widespread confusion among fans and analysts. Many wonder if the tournament will now take place as a tri-series or if Pakistan has been outright excluded.
🚨 Asian Cup on Sony Sports 🚨 pic.twitter.com/wley67vzp8
– Johns. (@Criccrazyjohns) June 24, 2025
Social media platforms quickly broke out with theories and concerns. Users have underlined heavy political relations between India and Pakistan as a potential underlying cause, while others expressed themselves by the prospect of a cup in Asia devoid of fierce rivalry and competitive peak that the presence of Pakistan traditionally brings.
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India-Pakistan conflict through the border
This last development takes place on a context of severely tense Indo-Pak cricket links. The bilateral series has been suspended for years, and the situation has intensified following the Pahalgam terrorist attack on April 22, 2025 and the Sindoor India operation. Composing uncertainty more uncertainty, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) would have communicated its decision to withdraw from ACC events, quoting discomfort with the management of ACC under the Federal Minister of the Interior of Pakistan, Mohsin Naqvi, who is also president of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
According to several reports, the BCCI underlined the “national feeling” and a “conflict of interest” as primary justifications for their reluctance to participate in tournaments supervised by a Pakistani official. This position threw an important shadow on the future of the Asian Cup, in particular as aircraft, the reigning champions after their dominant performance in 2023, was to welcome the tournament. While the May 2025 reports indicated a BCCI judgment of all ACC events, the secretary of the BCCI, ahead of Saikia, had denied such reports, indicating that no official decision had been made. This last promo, however, suggests a potential change in the story or at least a very sensitive situation.
Read also: Is India withdraw from the Asian Cup and other ACC events? The secretary of the BCCI erases the air
