Defending champions India will be hoping for a third straight Asia Cup victory, but they could face stiff competition from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
The Asia Cup returns later this month after a four-year hiatus, and some of the region’s best cricket teams are ready to battle it out in the Middle East.
Defending champions India, the most successful team in the history of the Asia Cup, will be hoping to make it three straight wins in this continental tournament. They could face stiff opposition from arch-rivals Pakistan and other teams such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
The tournament has tremendous prestige and historical significance as it has been running since the 1980s and will undoubtedly give the winning team the right to boast of being the best team on the continent. Some may also see the Asia Cup as important preparation for the T20 World Cup later this year.
After all, this year’s tournament returns to its shortest format, having debuted in the 2016 T20I in Bangladesh. With teams like India and Pakistan having already announced full squads, the Asia Cup can be expected to be a sort of dress rehearsal ahead of the main ICC T20 tournament in Australia in October.
Ahead of the Asia Cup, we take a look at the line-ups, venues and other relevant information such as broadcast details.
All Lineups of Asia Cup 2022
Indian Squad
- Rohit Sharma
- KL Rahul
- Arshdeep Singh
- R Ashwin
- Avesh Khan
- Yuzvendra Chahal
- Deepak Hooda
- Ravindra Jadeja
- Dinesh Karthik
- Virat Kohli
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar
- Hardik Pandya
- Rishabh Pant
- Ravi Bishnoi
- Suryakumar Yadav
Hong Kong Squad
- Nizakat Khan
- Kinchit Shah
- Aftab Hussain
- Aizaz Khan
- Ateeq Iqbal
- Babar Hayat
- Dhananjay Rao
- Ehsan Khan
- Haroon Arshad
- Scott McKechnie
- Mohammad Ghazanfar
- Mohammad Waheed
- Ayush Shukla
- Ahan Trivedi
- Wajid Shah
- Yasim Murtaza
- Zeeshan Ali
Sri Lanka Squad
- Dasun Shanaka
- Dinesh Chandimal
- Dhananjaya de Silva
- Danushka Gunathilaka
- Chamika Karunaratne
- Kusal Mendis
- Pathum Nissanka
- Bhanuka Rajapaksa
- Mahesh Theekshana
- Jeffrey Vandersay
- Dushmantha Chameera
Afghanistan Squad
- Babar Azam
- Shadab Khan
- Asif Ali, player
- Fakhar Zaman
- Haider Ali player
- Haris Rauf
- Hasan Ali
- Khushdil Shah
- Mohammad Hasnain
- Mohammad Nawaz
- Mohammad Rizwan
- Naseem Shah
- Mohammad Wasim
- Shaheen Afridi
Bangladesh Squad
- Shakib Al Hasan
- Afif Hossain
- Anamul Haque
- Ebadot Hossain
- Mahedi Hasan
- Mehidy Hasan
- Mohammad Naim Sheikh
- Mohammad Saifuddin
- Mosaddek Hossain
- Mushfiqur Rahim
- Sabbir Rahman
- Taskin Ahmed
- Hasan Mahmud
- Nurul Hasan
Tournament Format
India and Pakistan are in Group A with Hong Kong who passed the qualifying round. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan form Group B.
Each team will play the other teams in their group once, with each team having two matches. The top two teams from each group then advance to the Super Four stage, where all teams play each other once in a round robin format.
The top two teams in the Super Four stage will meet in the final to determine the winner of the 2022 Asian Cup.
Venue
The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka but eventually had to be shifted due to the political and economic crisis that had hit the island nation for several months.
The Asian Cricket Council eventually returned to the United Arab Emirates, the country that hosted the first edition of the tournament in 1984, as well as the 1995 and 2018 editions.
The Dubai International Cricket Stadium and Sharjah Cricket Stadium will co-host the tournament, with the former hosting the final on September 11.