Dubai:
The Asia Cup cricket tournament has been held since 1984. The biennial tournament has been postponed a few times due to unavoidable reasons including political issues and security. The 2020 tournament was not held due to the corona virus. The last match in 2018 was held in the United Arab Emirates, where the Indian team defeated Bangladesh in the last ball.
Initially the Asia Cup series was played in 50 over format. After that the 20 over format was introduced. That means it is held in that format in order to best prepare for whatever World Cup tournament is approaching at that time. As the 20 over World Cup cricket tournament will be held in October-November this year, the Asia Cup will also be staged in the 20 over format. With the 50-over World Cup coming up next year, the next Asia Cup tournament will be held in the 50-over format.
The 15th Asia Cup cricket tournament (20 overs) was originally scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka. But Sri Lanka, caught in a severe economic crisis, has said that they will not be able to host this tournament. Subsequently, the 15th Asia Cup match that was to be held there was shifted to the United Arab Emirates. Accordingly, the tournament will be held in Dubai and Sharjah from today (Saturday) till September 11.
The 6 participating teams are divided into two groups. Current champions India, Pakistan and Hong Kong teams are in ‘A’ category and Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan teams are in ‘B’ category. Each team will play the other teams in their division once each. At the end of the league round, the top two teams in both divisions will qualify for the Super4 round.
The 4 teams that make it to the Super 4 round will have to play each other once. At the end of this, the top-2 ranked teams will step into the finals.
India has been the most dominant player in the history of Asia Cup cricket. It has won the trophy 7 times. Next to this Sri Lanka have won 5 times and Pakistan 2 times.
It is the prediction of most of the cricket experts that only one of the teams India and Pakistan will win the trophy this time. Also, the match between the arch rivals India-Pakistan tomorrow has created huge expectations in this series. Former players’ statistical debates on who will win between Virat Kohli and Babar Azam, the Arudas have already sparked interest.
As the 20 Over Cricket World Cup is going to happen soon, every team management is keen to finalize their squad for the tournament and in that way this Asia Cup tournament has gained importance.
Sri Lanka-Afghanistan teams will clash in the first match today in Dubai. There will be no shortage of excitement as both teams look to start the account with a win. Kusal Mendis, Asalanga, Tananjaya de Silva, Hasanka and others are in good condition in the Sri Lankan team. At the same time, Afghanistan relies like a mountain on Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Hazratullah Shazai and Jadran. They can challenge Sri Lanka only if they shine.
Emirates pitches generally lend themselves somewhat to spin. It gets scorching here during the day. Sweating at night. The team that can effectively deal with such situation will have a chance to win.
These two teams have met only once before in 20 over cricket. Sri Lanka won the match by 6 wickets in 2016.
The proposed list of the two teams for the tournament is as follows:-
Sri Lanka: Shanaka (capt), Gunathilaka, Padum Nisanga, Kusal Mendis, Charit Asalanga, Banuka Rajapakse, Ashen Bandara, Tananjaya de Silva, Hazaranga, Deekshana, Jeffrey Wondersay, Praveen Jayawickrama, Samika Karunaratne, Dilshan Madhushanaka, Madisha Pathirana, Nuwanitu Fernando, Dinesh Chandimal.
Afghanistan: Mohammad Nabi (capt), Najibullah Zadran, Absar Shazai, Asmatullah Omarshai, Parid Ahmed Malik, Basal Haq Baruqi, Hashmatullah Shakidi, Hazratullah Shazai, Ibrahim Zadran, Karim Janat, Mujeeb Rahman, Naveen ul Haq, Noor Ahmed, Ramanullah Gurbaz, Rashid Khan, Samiullah Shinwari, Usman Ghani.
The match will start at 7.30 pm IST and will be telecasted live by Star Sports channels.