Fact Check: Will India Sport 'Pakistan' Name On Asia Cup 2023 Jerseys For First-Time Ever?

Team India are the favourites to win Asia Cup 2023. They will be playing all their matches in Sri Lanka after their refusal to play any in Pakistan. Will they play with 'Pakistan' written on their jerseys? Know the truth here.

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. (Source: Twitter)

The Asia Cup 2023 will be played from August 30 to September 17 in Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Team India is yet to finalise their squad while Pakistan have already announced the 17-man team for the tournament. The marquee game of Asia Cup will be played between arch-rivals India and Pakistan on September 2 at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Sri Lanka. Not to forget, India had refused to play in Pakistan citing security concerns. Pakistan, who earlier were lone hosts of Asia Cup, then agreed to co-host the tournament with Sri Lanka after many deliberations and discussions.

India will be playing all of their matches in Asia Cup in Sri Lanka while other six teams - Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka - will be playing the matches in both the countries.

A fake news has spread across social media that Indian cricket team will be wearing a jersey with 'Pakistan' written on the front side. Fans have failed to comprehend the reality behind such information. Team India's jersey is not going to sport the name 'Pakistan' on their jerseys. The name 'Pakistan' is likely to be written in small letters beneath the Asia Cup Logo, which will be sported on top-right side of the shirt.

Here's a look at the Pakistan squad for the Men's ODI #AsiaCup2023! __

Babar Azam will lead the team with Shadab as his deputy. Rizwan and Haris are the wicketkeepers and the pace battery will be spearheaded by Shaheen Shah Afridi!

Can they combine well and clinch the title? _ pic.twitter.com/1RUWZy3Ilk — AsianCricketCouncil (@ACCMedia1) August 10, 2023

In International Cricket Council (ICC) as well as Asian Cricket Council (ACC) tournaments, the jerseys do not have sponsor's name on the front side while the logo of the tournament is pasted on the top-right. Along with the logo, the name of the hosts or co-hosts also is written just under it.

Later this year when Pakistan tour India for the ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2023, they too will have 'India' written under the Cricket World Cup logo. That does not mean that 'India' is written on front of their jerseys. That is why it is important to comprehend the idea behind the name of the 'host' country written on the jerseys as this is nothing new. 

When will India squad for Asia Cup be out?

Out of the six teams taking part in the tournament, only Pakistan have named the full squad. India are still waiting for the progress of the likes of Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul before they take a call on the final squad for Asia Cup. Iyer and Rahul have recovered from their respective injuries and have begun batting too in the nets but the selectors want to know whether they are completely match fit or not.