The unpredictability of the T20 format and the growth of the game in the region could make the 2022 Asia Cup, which starts on Saturday, the hardest-fought edition ever. Pakistani legend Wasim Akram has already predicted that the six-team tournament has the potential to show a never-before-seen quality. Aside from Hong Kong’s only qualifier, the five other teams, including seven-time record champions India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, can beat each other on their day.
The tournament, which will be held in the T20 format after six years, had to be moved to the UAE after host country Sri Lanka indicated it could not host it domestically amid the economic crisis facing the island country.
While conditions in the UAE will be different from what teams will experience during the World Cup in Australia in October-November, all participating teams will attempt to identify their final roster for the ICC event over the next two weeks. .
There is also plenty at stake for the participating teams. India will attempt to carry out their ultra-aggressive batting approach in a high-pressure environment, starting with the opener against Pakistan on Sunday.
All eyes will be on Virat Kohli, who is expected to come out of a lengthy meager patch. The performance of the top three including skipper Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul is central while the injured pacemaker Jasprit Bumrah will be missed.
Pakistan, a team that has been on the rise for the past 12 months, will aim to win the tournament it last won 10 years ago when played in the ODI format.
They were sidelined by a few injury issues prior to the tournament, with star pacer Shaheen Afridi being ruled out of the tournament due to a knee injury.
With a relatively inexperienced middle order, there will be too much reliance on the opening duo of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.
Afghanistan, led by the seasoned Mohmmad Nabi, will try to beat the higher-ranked teams, something they couldn’t in last year’s T20 World Cup here. Rashid Khan will be their trump card with the ball as usual and will expect the batters to come on.
Sri Lanka has shown a lot of promise under new head coach Chris Silverwood. There is no shortage of talent in the squad and the event provides an ideal opportunity to become stars at night and bring a smile to the faces of those struggling at home.
Bangladesh, struggling in its shortest format since the World Cup, will be watching the course correction led by Shakib Al Hasan. Sridharan Sriram has been appointed technical director ahead of the World Cup to close the gaps in the T20 lineup.
India and Pakistan will be wary of Hong Kong in their group. Hong Kong qualified for the Asian Cup for the fourth time after beating the United Arab Emirates in the qualifier in Oman.
Squad: 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, 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 Jr, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir .
Bangladesh: 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 Mirazin, Parvezot Hosin Emon, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Taskin Ahmed.
Sri Lanka: 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 Karhanuna Matheesha Pathirana, Nuwanidu Fernando, Dinesh Chandimal.
Afghanistan: 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, No, Naveen Ahmad, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Rashid Khan, Samiullah Shinwari and Usman Ghani.
promoted
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.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
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