The Men’s Cricket world cup is just over a month away and it will be surely be covered and written a lot about, but this article is not about the World Cup, we will deal with that when the time comes. Today its a about the Asia cup, perhaps the best warm up one may imagine. Teams stand a chance to play up to 6 games on pitches and conditions that will be similar to those in India during the world cup as this tournament will be played in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Plus the Asian teams traditionally do well on low slow wickets so there will be no easy games throughout the tournament.
The last time the Asia cup was played it was a T20 format as it preceded the T20 world cup, similarly this time around its a 50 over tournament as its precedes the 50 over World Cup.
So, how do the teams stack up -
Pakistan - hosts and pre tournament favourites one might say… They have the strongest pace bowling attack with Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Wreck it (Haris) Rauf all capable of making life very uncomfortable for batters thanks to their sheer pace, and if its nipping around, then they become even more deadly. With Babar Azam and Md. Rizwan leading a settled batting attack and with Allrounders like Shadab Khan Md. Nawaz, they have all bases covered. They made the finals of the T20 world cup last year and will be hoping to go one step better in the 50 over world cup this time around. A good showing and winning the Asia cup will be the confidence boost they could do with.
Sri Lanka - they won the Asia cup last time around but this time they have been plagued with injuries and illness. Dushmantha Chameera, Lahiru Kumara and Dilshan Madushanka are all injured while Wanindu Hasaranga who himself is coming off an injury has been rested keeping the world cup in mind. It gives a chance for some of their fringe players to get some time in the middle in high pressure games which will serve them well but an understrength Sri Lanka will be using this tournament as springboard for the World Cup.
Bangladesh - always up for a fight, always tough to beat in these conditions. Bangladesh would be looking to string some good performances to fire themselves up for the world cup. The likes of Shakib and Mushfiqur bring in a lot of experience and have seen it all. Their calm heads will go nicely with the aggression the likes of Liton Das and Mehidy Hasan bring. They always have wily spinners to count upon and this time they will be backed up well by pacers like the fizz and Taskin Ahmed.
Afghanistan - As the recent 3 match series against Pakistan showed, the Afghans can run the top sides close, but its still a matter close but no cigar for them. They have a gun spin attack. Its only a matter of time before their pace and batting prowess matches that of their spinners. And if they manage to sort that out, then they will be a very hard side to beat. They are not easy to roll over by any means and will surely look to get the better of the fancied teams. They have come close in the past by almost getting the better of teams like India and Pakistan, they recently won over Bangladesh too so will be looking to scalp a few big victims in this tournament.
India - The Indians will have their fingers crossed that some of their key players coming back from long injury lay offs can get through the tournament unscathed. If Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna can get into rhythm during this tournament and Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul find some form then that will be a job done for this side. Where India struggle in big tournaments is with their batting. They tend to lose wickets in clumps in pressure games and that leads to their undoing. If they can get to a crunch match in this tournament and come out victors then it will give them the confidence to do it again should they find themselves in a world cup Semi- Final or in a match they need to win to get to the knock-outs.
By the looks of it, Pakistan should win this tournament quite comfortably and that will set up up nicely for the World Cup ahead. There won’t be any easy games which should make for interesting viewing.
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