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Asia Cup 2022: The Asia Cup will return to action after a four-year break later this month, with some of the continent’s top cricketing teams prepared to compete in the Middle East. Here is all you want to know about the Asia Cup 2022.
The defending champions and most successful team in Asia Cup history, India, will be hoping to win the continental title for the third time in a row. However, they will face stiff competition from Pakistan, their bitter rival, and teams like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
Given that it has been going on since the 1980s, the event is very prestigious and significant historically, and the winning team will undoubtedly be able to claim bragging rights as the greatest on the continent. Some may also see the Asia Cup as a crucial T20 World Cup warm-up event later in the year.
After all, the tournament had its T20I debut in the 2016 edition in Bangladesh, and it is back in the shortest format this year. One may anticipate the Asia Cup to serve as a type of dress rehearsal for the ICC’s marquee T20 event in Australia in October given that sides like India and Pakistan have already confirmed full-strength squads.
Squads
India Squad Asia Cup:
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 Squad Asia Cup:
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, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir.
Bangladesh Squad Asia Cup:
Shakib Al Hasan (c), Anamul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Mahmudullah, Mahedi Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman, Nasum Ahmed, Sabbir Rahman, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Ebadot Hossain, Parvez Hossain Emon, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Taskin Ahmed.
Afghanistan Squad Asia Cup:
Mohammad Nabi (C), Najibullah Zadran (VC), Afsar Zazai (WK), Azmatullah Omarzai, Farid Ahmad Malik, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Hazratullah Zazai, Ibrahim Zadran, Karim Janat, Mujib ur Rahman, Najibullah Zadran, Naveen ul Haq, Noor Ahmad, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Rashid Khan and Samiullah Shinwari.
Reserves: Nijat Masoud, Qais Ahmad, Sharafuddin Ashraf
Sri Lanka Squad Asia Cup:
Dasun Shanaka (Capt), Dhanushka Gunathilaka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (WK), Charith Asalanka (VC), Banka Rajapaksha (WK), Ashen Bandara, Dhananjaya de Silva, Wanidu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffery Vandersay, Praveen Jayawickrama, Dushmantha Chameera, Binura Fernando, Chamika Karunaratne, Dilshan Madushanka, Matheesha Pathirana, Dinesh Chandhimal (WK), Nuwanindu Fernando, Kasun Rajitha
UAE, Kuwait, Singapore, and Hong Kong will compete in the qualifier to determine the tournament’s sixth team.
Asia Cup 2022 Groups and Format
India and Pakistan are placed in Group A along with the undecided sixth team. Group B consists of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
Two matches per side are played, with each team playing the other teams in their group once. The top two teams from each group then advance to the Super Four stage, when all teams play one round-robin match against one another.
The final will pit the top two teams from the Super Four stage against one another to become the 2022 Asia Cup winner.
Venues
The political and economic crisis that has gripped Sri Lanka for months has forced a relocation of the event from the island nation, which was initially slated to host it.
The United Arab Emirates, which had previously hosted the inaugural tournament in 1984 as well as the 1995 and 2018 editions, was ultimately chosen by the Asian Cricket Council.
The event will be split between the Dubai International Cricket Stadium and Sharjah Cricket Stadium, with the former hosting the final on September 11.
