Asia Cup 2023: No Team Sporting Hosts Pakistan's Name On Their Jersey

Asia Cup 2023 is all set to start this week. The much-awaited continental championship is scheduled to begin on Wednesday (August 30) with the match between hosts Pakistan and Nepal who are making their debut in the tournament.

Apart from Pakistan and Nepal, India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and defending champions Sri Lanka are also participating in the tournament. For the first time in the history of the Asia Cup, the tournament is being played in two countries – Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

While Pakistan were originally given the hosting rights, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) had to accept their hybrid model proposal after India refused to travel to Pakistan due to the poor bilateral relations between the two countries. As a result, Sri Lanka will co-host the tournament. Pakistan will host four games while the Island nation will host the other nine games including the final as five of the six Super 4 games.

Pakistan missing from jerseys:

Ahead of the Asia Cup, teams have started unveiling their jerseys for the tournament. Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh have already showcased the jerseys they would sport in the tournament. As the fans shared the photos of the jerseys on social media platforms, an interesting detail was noted.

Pakistan’s name was missing beneath the Asia Cup logo. Usually, the host country’s name is written beneath the tournament’s name. Last year, all the teams had Sri Lanka’s name written on their jerseys despite the tournament taking place in the UAE. And even though Pakistan are still the hosts of the competition, their name is missing from all the teams’ jerseys.

On the sides of the headshots session ? pic.twitter.com/AZv6i0Kvzo

— Bangladesh Cricket (@BCBtigers) August 28, 2023

?????@iMRizwanPak interacts with the @CricketNep players in Multan.#AsiaCup2023 pic.twitter.com/MDcyO6oHFY

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) August 28, 2023

Asia Cup squads:

Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Haris, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir (travelling reserve).

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (vc), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumraj, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Sanju Samson (travelling reserve).

Nepal: Rohit Paudel (c), Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh, Bhim Sharki, Kushal Malla, Aarif Sheikh, Dipendra Singh Airee, Gulshan Jha, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane, Lalit Rajbanshi, Pratish GC, Mousom Dhakal, Sundeep Jora, Kishore Mahato, Arjun Saud

Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (c), Litton Kumer Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain Dhrubo, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Nasum Ahmed, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Naim Sheikh, Shamim Hossain, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Tanzim Hasan Sakib

Afghanistan: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Rashid Khan, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Abdul Rahman, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Suliman Safi, Fazalhaq Farooqi.

Sri Lanka: Squad yet to be announced

Asia Cup 2023 schedule: