Defending champions India will be hoping to register a third straight Asia Cup win, they can expect some stiff resistance from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
File image of Indian players. AP
The Asia Cup returns to action later this month after a hiatus of four years with some of the region’s top cricketing sides ready to battle it out in the Middle East.
Defending champions India, the most successful team in Asia Cup history, will be hoping to register a third straight win in the continental showpiece event, they can expect some stiff resistance from arch-rivals Pakistan as well as sides such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
The event carries a lot of prestige and historical significance given that it has existed since the 1980s and will no doubt give the winning team bragging rights as best in the continent. Asia Cup could also be viewed by some as an important preparation event for the T20 World Cup later in the year.
The tournament, after all, returns to the shortest format this year, having made its T20I debut in the 2016 edition in Bangladesh. And with teams such as India and Pakistan already having announced full strength squads, one can expect the Asia Cup to be a dress rehearsal of sorts for ICC’s showpiece T20 event in Australia in October.
Ahead of the Asia Cup, we take a look at the squads, venues as well as other relevant information such as broadcasting details:
Squads
India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan. Standby: Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Deepak Chahar.
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir, Mohammad Hasnain.
Afghanistan: Mohammad Nabi (captain), Najibullah Zadran, Afsar Zazai, Azmatullah Omarzai, Farid Ahmad Malik, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Hazratullah Zazai, Ibrahim Zadran, Karim Janat, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Najibullah Zadran, Naveen ul Haq, Noor Ahmad, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rashid Khan, Samiullah Shinwari. Standby: Nijat Masood, Qais Ahmed, Sharafuddin Ashraf.
Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (c), Danushka Gunathilaka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Ashen Bandara, Dhananjaya de Silva, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Praveen Jayawickrama, Chamika Karunaratne, Dilshan Madushanka, Matheesha Pathirana, Nuwanidu Fernando, Dushmantha Chameera, Dinesh Chandimal
Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (c), Anamul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Mahmudullah, Mahedi Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mustafizur Rahman, Nasum Ahmed, Sabbir Rahman, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain , Parvez Hossain Emon, Mohammad Naim
Hong Kong: Nizakat Khan (c), Kinchit Shah, Zeeshan Ali, Haroon Arshad, Babar Hayat, Aftab Hussain, Ateeq Iqbal, Aizaz Khan, Ehsan Khan, Scott McKechnie (wk), Ghazanfar Mohammad, Yasim Murtaza, Dhananjay Rao, Wajid Shah, Ayush Shukla, Ahan Trivedi, Mohammad Waheed
Format
India and Pakistan find themselves in Group A alongside Hong Kong who came through the qualifiers. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan form Group B.
Each team faces the remaining sides in their group once which makes for two matches per side. The top two teams from each group then progress to the Super Four stage, where all teams play each other once in round-robin format.
The top two teams in the Super Four stage then face each other in the final to determine the winner of the 2022 Asia Cup.
Schedule
27 August: Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan (Group B) in Dubai
28 August: India vs Pakistan (Group A) in Dubai
30 August: Bangladesh vs Afghanistan (Group B) in Sharjah
31 August: India vs Hong Kong (Group A) in Dubai
1 September: Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh (Group B) in Dubai
2 September: Pakistan vs Hong Kong (Group A) in Sharjah
3 September: B1 vs B2 (Super 4) in Sharjah
4 September: A1 vs A2 (Super 4) in Dubai
6 September: A1 vs B1 (Super 4) in Dubai
7 September: A2 vs B2 (Super 4) in Dubai
8 September: A1 vs B2 (Super 4) in Dubai
9 September: B1 vs A2 (Super 4) in Dubai
11 September: 1st Super 4 vs 2nd Super 4 (Final) in Dubai
Venues
The tournament was originally scheduled to be hosted in Sri Lanka, but had to ultimately be shifted out due to the political and economic crisis that has engulfed the island nation for months now.
The Asian Cricket Council ultimately fell back on the United Arab Emirates, which had hosted the inaugural tournament in 1984 as well the 1995 and 2018 editions.
The Dubai International Cricket Stadium and Sharjah Cricket Stadium will share the hosting duties for the tournament with the former hosting the final on 11 September.
Live telecast and streaming
The 2022 Asia Cup will be telecast on the Star Sports Network, with matches streamed live on Disney+ Hotstar. Additionally, one can follow the live scorecard and updates of the Asia Cup matches on Firstpost.com.
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