The Asia Cup 2022 is less than a week away- set to start on August 27, Saturday, at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium with Sri Lanka, who are official hosts of the tournament, taking on Afghanistan in the tournament opener.
Sri Lanka were initially slated to host the Asia Cup 2022, but last month the Asian Cricket Council decided to move the tournament out of the Island nation to the UAE due to the economic crisis in Sri Lanka, which would make it difficult to host a six-team tournament. The SLC will still act as the host and will have the hosting rights for the competition.
India are the defending champions having won the tournament in 2018 and before that in 2016 as well. While the 2018 tournament was in the ODI format, now it will be in the T20 format – as it was in 2016 – to allow the teams better preparation opportunities for the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 slated for October-November in Australia.
Commentators for Asia Cup confirmed:
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri is one of the marquee names on the commentators’ list for the Asia Cup 2022, confirmed by broadcaster Star Sports.
Complete list of the English commentators for Asia Cup 2022:
Ravi Shastri, Irfan Pathan, Gautam Gambhir, Russel Arnold, Deep Dasgupta, Scott Styris, Sanjay Manjrekar, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Athar Ali Khan.
Complete list of Hindi commentators for Asia Cup 2022:
Sanjay Manjrekar, Gautam Gambhir, Aakash Chopra, Jatin Sapru, Sanjay Bangar, Deep Dasgupta, Irfan Pathan, Ravi Shastri
What is the grouping in the Asia Cup 2022:
Six teams will compete in the main tournament. There will be two rounds of matches before the final.
For the first round of matches, the 6 teams are divided into two groups: India, Pakistan, and the team that wins the qualifying tournament are in Group A; Group B comprises Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Each team plays the other once in the group stage with the top two teams from each group advancing to the Super 4 round.
In the Super 4, all teams play three matches each – once against each other – and the top 2 teams from Super 4 will qualify for the final on September 11, in Dubai.
Squads of the five teams who have qualified for the main tournament:
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. Standbys: 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, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir.
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, Najibullah Zadran, Naveen ul Haq, Noor Ahmad, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Rashid Khan and Samiullah Shinwari. Reserves: Nijat Masoud, Qais Ahmad, and Sharafuddin Ashraf
Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (captain), 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, Taskin Ahmed
Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (captain), Dhanushaka Gunathilaka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksha, Ashen Bandara, Dhananjaya de Silva, Wanidu Hasaranga, Mahesh Theekshana, Jeffery Vandersay, Praveen Jayawickrema, Dushmantha Chameera, Binura Fernando, Chamika Karunaratne, Dilshan Madushanka, Matheesha Pathirana, Dinesh Chandimal, Nuwanindu Fernando and Kasun Rajitha
UAE, Kuwait, Singapore and Hong Kong will compete in the Qualifying tournament from August 20 in Oman; the winner will proceed to the main tournament.
