India will host Asia Cup 2018 in the United Arab Emirates after a unanimous decision was made to that end during a meeting of the executive board of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) on Tuesday, 10 April.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) statement also confirmed that tournament would revert to the one-day format. The previous edition in 2016 was a T20I tournament, largely to facilitate teams’ preparations for the ICC World T20 2016 that followed, says ICC.

‘The ACC Board unanimously approved the staging of Asia Cup 2018 in the UAE between September 13th-28th, 2018,’ the BCCI release stated. ‘India will be hosting the upcoming marquee event of Asia in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.’

The 2018 edition will be a six-team affair and will be played in Abu Dhabi and Dubai from 13 September to 28 September.

India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan are the Full Member sides, and they will be joined by the winner of the Qualifier tournament, with Hong Kong, Singapore, Oman, Nepal, UAE and Malaysia set to fight it out for the final spot.

The ACC board also decided that a few matches of the Emerging Teams Asia Cup would be held in Pakistan, with Sri Lanka hosting a majority of the tournament.

India are the current holders of the Asia Cup after their defeat of Bangladesh in the finals two years ago in Dhaka.