Asia XI vs World XI: Date, Time, Venues And Everything You Need To Know

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) will host two Asia XI vs World XI T20I games in the country, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of their founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Schedule of the two matches has been released on Saturday, as they will be played on March 18 and 21 respectively.

Both the fixtures will be hosted at Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Dhaka.

Earlier, there was speculation that the third match of the series, should be hosted at the newly built Sardar Patel (Motera Stadium) in Ahmedabad. However, some remaining work at the venue meant that the third fixture had to be scrapped off entirely.

Motera Stadium is already being hailed as the biggest cricket ground in the world, with a capacity of seating 1.10 lakh people at the same time.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new Motera stadium along with the United States of America (USA) President Donald Trump, who is scheduled to visit India later this month.

Five Indian players will reportedly be a part of the Asia XI:

Earlier, in a bid to make the occasion memorable, the BCB had requested the Board of Control For Cricket in India (BCCI) to send some players from the Indian team to take part in the Asia XI vs World XI fixture.

BCCI Joint Secretary Jayesh George in December confirmed the same and stated that the BCCI would be willing to send as many as five players who will be part of the Asia XI.

“Our board has decided to send five players. It has been left to the BCCI president (Sourav Ganguly) to decide which five players would go to Bangladesh,” Jayesh George told bdcrictime.

George, in a different interview, had also revealed that Sourav Ganguly would hold discussions with the BCB about Pakistan and Indian players playing in the same team.

“There were some discussions in this regard during the Pink Ball Test in Kolkata. It looks unlikely that India and Pakistan players will feature in the same Asian XI team. It will depend on Sourav as he will have discussions with the Bangladesh Cricket Board,” he told PTI.

Here is the schedule of the Asia XI vs World XI matches:

March 18 – Asia XI versus World XI, 1st T20I – 6:00 PM IST at Sher-e-Bangla Stadium, Dhaka

March 21 – Asia XI versus World XI 2nd T20I – 6:00 PM IST at Sher-e-Bangla Stadium, Dhaka

It should be interesting to see which five players BCCI picks to send to the two fixtures because so far they haven’t revealed any names.

Also, the first Asia XI vs World XI fixture will clash with India’s third ODI with South Africa.

It’s also worth noting here that India and Pakistan have never played each other in the past seven years except for continental and global tournaments.