The most awaited tournament of this year for the Asian cricket fans is finally some days away and the teams are warming themselves in their best shape to be crowned as the 50-over champions of the largest continent.
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will light up the Dubai Cricket Stadium on September 15 to play the inauguration game of the Asia Cup.
The matches are scheduled to take place in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
The two best teams of the tournament will compete with each other for the trophy at the Dubai Cricket Stadium on September 28.
The Qualifiers
The qualifying round of the Asia Cup will be played in Malaysia from August 29 to September 6. There will be two phases of this round. In the first phase, all the teams will face each other for a spot in the final. In the last phase of this round, the first two teams on the points table will compete with one another in the contest of the final. The winning team will qualify for the main round of Asia Cup.
Teams Participating:
Malaysia, Nepal, UAE, Hong Kong, Oman, Singapore
The Number of Matches:
16
Venues:
Kinrara Oval, Bayuemas Oval, UKM Oval
Fixtures:
August 29: Malaysia vs Hong Kong at Kinrara Oval
August 29: Nepal vs Oman at Bayuemas Oval
August 29: UAE vs Singapore at UKM Oval
August 30: UAE vs Nepal at Kinrara Oval
August 30: Hong Kong vs Singapore at Bayuemas Oval
August 30: Malaysia vs Oman at UKM Oval
September 1: Oman vs Singapore at Kinrara Oval
September 1: Malaysia vs Nepal at Bayuemas Oval
September 1: UAE vs Hong Kong at UKM Oval
September 2: Hong Kong vs Oman at Kinrara Oval
September 2: Malaysia vs UAE at Bayuemas Oval
September 2: Nepal vs Singapore at UKM Oval
September 4: Malaysia vs Singapore at Kinrara Oval
September 4: UAE vs Oman at Bayuemas Oval
September 4: Nepal vs Hong Kong at UKM Oval
Final:
September 6: 1st Place vs 2nd Place at Kinrara Oval
The Group Stage
In previous four editions, the tournament was organised in the round-robin format. This time, it will be played in the same format that was used in Asia Cup 2008.
The teams are divided into two groups.
Group A consists of following teams:
Pakistan, India and Qualifier
Group B consists of following teams:
Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh
The three teams in both groups will play each other to strive for the first two spots in their groups. The top two teams in both groups will qualify for round of Super 4 and the last team in each group will be eliminated from the tournament.
The Number of Matches:
6
Fixtures:
September 15: Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh at Dubai
September 16: Pakistan vs Qualifier at Dubai
September 17: Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka at Dubai
September 18: India vs Qualifier at Dubai
September 19: Pakistan vs India at Dubai
September 20: Bangladesh vs Afghanistan at Dubai
The Super 4 Round
The top teams qualified from their groups will compete with each other in the Super 4 round to grab a place in the final. The Super 4 round will be played in Dubai and Abu Dhabi from September 21 to 26.
The Number of matches:
7
Fixtures:
September 21: Group A Winner vs Group B Runner-up at Dubai
September 21: Group B Winner vs Group A Runner-up at Abu Dhabi
September 23: Group A Runner-up vs Group B Runner-up at Dubai
September 23: Group A Winner vs Group B Winner at Abu Dhabi
September 25: Group A Winner vs Group A Winner at Dubai
September 26: Group B Winner vs Group B Runner-up at Abu Dhabi
The Grand Finale
The two most successful teams of the Super 4 round will play one another for the last game of the tournament to acquire the glory. The final of the Asia Cup will be played at the Dubai Cricket Stadium on September 28.
