27 August,2022 08:35 AM IST | Dubai | R Kaushik
India’s players during a practice session at Dubai on Thursday. Pic/AFP
In a bid to ensure that it doesn't suffer for relevance and context, the Asia Cup cricket tournament has positioned itself as an amorphous entity, reshaping itself depending on the need of the hour. Originally only a 50-over competition, it has flitted between the T20 and one-day formats over the last few years, depending on what it is a precursor to.
The 2016 edition in Bangladesh was the first to be played over 20 overs, mainly as a preparatory exercise for the T20 World Cup that was to start in India a month later. Two years on, in 2018, it reverted to the 50-over version because the 50-over World Cup was but a few months away, in England in the summer of 2019.
This latest Asia Cup, running two years behind schedule due to the pandemic and shifted from Sri Lanka to the UAE owing to the massive problems in the tiny island, will be a 20-over face-off involving the five Asian Test-playing nations and Hong Kong, who sailed through to the tournament proper after finishing unbeaten in the four-team qualifying competition in Oman.
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Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, who still are the tournament hosts, will get the competition underway at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Saturday, but all eyes are already trained on Sunday, when India will lock horns with Pakistan for what could be the first of three showdowns in a fortnight.
Clubbed with Hong Kong, India and Pakistan will leave no stone unturned in their bid to avoid a banana peel as they eye Super 4 berths. Group B is anything but straightforward; there is little to choose between Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. All are equally matched and, in any case, the 20-over game bridges the gulf between the teams more than any other. Qualification could hinge on one slice of brilliance or one moment of indecision.
A trio of crack fast bowlers will be missing in action - India's Jasprit Bumrah, Pakistan's Shaheen Shah Afridi and Sri Lankan Dushmantha Chameera are all unavailable due to injury - but with the conditions expected to favour the slower bowlers, they might not be missed as much as if the tournament had been played in bouncy Australia or seaming/swinging England.
For obvious reasons, Virat Kohli will be the cynosure. Sunday's game against Pakistan will be his 100th T20I and for as acclaimed a big-match player as he is, it might just be the stage to catalyse his rejuvenation in time for the mega challenge, the T20 World Cup, that lies in wait in Australia in October-November.
