India and Pakistan are the teams that will mostly be on focus in the Asia Cup 2023. After loads of deliberations and given the fact that India could not travel to Pakistan for obvious reasons, it was decided that Sri Lanka would co-host the tournament.
India and Pakistan are most likely to qualify for the Super Four provided Nepal don’t pull off a major upset in any of their group matches. The other group is the group of death, featuring Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka have reasons to worry as two of their frontline bowlers, Wanindu Hasaranga and Lahiru Kumara, would not be a part of the tournament. A day before the start of the tournament, Sri Lanka named a 15-member squad.
Co-host Pakistan is the No.1 team in ODIs and they will want to start their campaign on a positive note. Having beaten Afghanistan 3-0, Babar Azam’s men will be high on confidence.
The Afghans, on the other hand, will depend heavily on their bowling attack. But they have talented batters in the form of Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Najibullah Zadran.
Bangladesh have played the Asia Cup final three times, and every time, they ended up on the losing side. Shakib Al Hasan has loads of experience and it remains to be seen if he can take the Tigers to glory this time around.
India also have a pretty strong squad at their disposal. KL Rahul would not be a part of the group matches against Nepal. Rohit Sharma would also want to get amongst the runs before the World Cup. The focus will also be on the likes of Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill and others.
Nepal have an inspirational captain in the form of Rohit Paudel, who is also their all-time leading run-scorer in ODIs. Sandeep Lamichhane holds the record of the fastest bowler to 100 wickets in ODIs and he needs to take responsibility as well.
Here are the complete squads for Asia Cup 2023
Pakistan
Babar Azam (c), Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Haris, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir (travelling reserve).
India
Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (vc), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumraj, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Sanju Samson (travelling reserve).
Nepal
Rohit Paudel (c), Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh, Bhim Sharki, Kushal Malla, Aarif Sheikh, Dipendra Singh Airee, Gulshan Jha, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane, Lalit Rajbanshi, Pratish GC, Mousom Dhakal, Sundeep Jora, Kishore Mahato, Arjun Saud
Bangladesh
Shakib Al Hasan (c), Litton Kumer Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain Dhrubo, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Nasum Ahmed, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Naim Sheikh, Shamim Hossain, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Tanzim Hasan Sakib
Afghanistan
Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Rashid Khan, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Abdul Rahman, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Suliman Safi, Fazalhaq Farooqi.
Sri Lanka
Dasun Shanaka (c), Pathum Nissanaka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Janith Perera, Kusal Mendis (vc), Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Maheesh Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage, Matheesha Pathirana, Kasun Rajitha, Dushan Hemantha, Binura Fernando, Pramod Madushan.
Here is the complete schedule for Asia Cup 2023
August 30: Pakistan vs Nepal, Multan, Pakistan, 3:00 pm
August 31: Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 3 pm
September 2: Pakistan vs India, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 3 pm
September 3: Bangladesh vs Afghanistan, Lahore, Pakistan, 3:00 pm
September 4: India vs Nepal, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 3 pm
September 5: Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan, Lahore, Pakistan, 3:00 pm
September 6: A1 vs B2, Lahore, Pakistan, 3:00 pm
September 9: B1 vs B2, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 3 pm
September 10: A1 vs A2, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 3 pm
September 12: A2 vs B1, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 3 pm
September 14: A1 vs B1, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 3 pm
September 15: A2 vs B2, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 3 pm
September 17: Final (Super Fours 1 vs Super Fours 2), Colombo, Sri Lanka, 3 pm
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