With a couple of weeks remaining for the 2023 edition of the Asia Cup, a 12-member commentary panel for the tournament was announced on Friday, August 11. The star-studded panel included five Indians, four Pakistanis, and one member each from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and New Zealand. However, the only commentator outside of the teams participating in the tournament, New Zealand's Scott Styris has taken his name back.
Former Kiwi all-rounder, Styris, who was part of the panel last year in the UAE for the continental tournament, took to Twitter (X) on Saturday, August 12 to express his shock at being included in the commentary panel since he is not going for the Asia Cup this year. To confirm his unavailability, Styris wrote, "I loved working on the last Asia Cup in the UAE. But not sure how/why I'm included in the list for this years tournament. I won't be there this time around."
Ravi Shastri, Sanjay Manjrekar, Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Ramiz Raja, Gautam Gambhir and Russel Arnold among others headline the now 11-member commentary panel for the Asia Cup.
This is the 14th edition of the ODI version of the tournament and for the first time in history, the Asia Cup will be played in a hybrid model with Pakistan and Sri Lanka set to host it. Out of 13 matches, four games will be played in Pakistan and the rest in Sri Lanka. India are grouped with Pakistan and Nepal while Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are in Group B. Four teams from the group stage will advance to the Super Fours stage where they will take on each other once, with the top two teams set to face off in the final on September 17.
