Asia Cup 2018 venue: India will now play all their matches at the same venue throughout the tournament.
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In which has come as a relieving update for the Indian players, they will now play all their matches at the same venue. The tournament is scheduled to be played at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai and Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi.
Earlier, India were also scheduled to play matches on both the venues. However, a change in the fixtures has meant that India will now play all the matches at Dubai.
If they qualify for the final of the tournament which will be played on September 29, even that it scheduled to be played at Dubai.
The tournament was earlier set to be played in India. Being the home nation, they would have been expecting such measures to be taken for them.
The Mumbai Mirror, citing a BCCI source, stated that India still enjoys the host privileges and will need the exclusive accommodation to house its own staff and sponsors.
Other than the fixtures, the place where the Indian players will reside has also been changed. The Indian team will be staying at Grand Hyatt while the rest of teams (Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Hong Kong) will be staying in InterContinental.
The Asia Cup commences on September 15 with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka contesting in the first match. India will play their first match on September 18 against Hong Kong, which will be followed by the much-awaited clash against Pakistan.
Having rested Virat Kohli, opener Rohit Sharma will be leading the Indian team. In such circumstances, Mahendra Singh Dhoni‘s is likely to play a key role in the tournament. The 37-year old wicket-keeper batsman is also in lines of breaking these records during the tournament. Speaking about the clash against Pakistan, Dhoni would be eyeing to surpass these feats against India’s arch-rivals.
