The high-octane clash between arch-rivals Pakistan and India in the T20 Asia Cup 2022 is all set to take place today (Sunday) at the Dubai Cricket Stadium in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 7pm PST.
Both teams are well prepared for the major cricket event.
The Green Shirts, with strong T20 cricket credentials over the years, can repeat the last year’s World Cup feat against India with their opening pair of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan going to be a real threat to the Indians.
With Babar having stamped his authority as the most reliable batsman in all three formats with enormous consistency, Rizwan is undoubtedly the most dangerous T20 player which the world has produced in recent years.
Last time, both the teams faced each other in T20 World Cup 2021 last year in which Pakistan beat India by 10 wickets.
The Asia Cup 2022 will feature six teams from the Asian continent divided into two groups. Pakistan is in Group A along with India and Hong Kong.
Group B has the other three Asian teams Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Following the group matches, two top teams from each group will qualify for the Super Four stage, which will begin on September 3.
The final between the top two teams of the Super Four will be played on September 11. The cricket action will continue in Dubai and Sharjah till the final on September 11.
Both teams have announced their squads for the tournament.
Squads
India: Rohit Sharma (C), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Deepak Hooda, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Pakistan: Babar Azam (C), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Hasan Ali (subject to approval from ETC), Naseem Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Shahnawaz Dahani and Usman Qadir.