Here comes another season Asia Cup, the thrilling cricket tournament. The event marks the matches between most exceptional cricket teams of Asia that most of the times include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and UAE. Asia Cup 2018 will see participation from the first six teams.
Asia Cup 2018 Schedule And Details ‘
Asia Cup 2018 will kickstart from September 15, in U.A.E. where all matches will take place. Earlier, the venue for the tournament was India, but due to political tensions between India and Pakistan, it was shifted to UAE.
The match will have a group stage, quarterfinals stage, and play-off stage. Five teams that include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have already qualified for the tournament. The sixth team which can be one from Oman, UAE, Hong Kong and Nepal will be decided in the play-off. The group stage of the tournament will end on September 20.
The super fours of the competition will meet in the next round which will start on September 21 and end on September 22.
Super two teams will meet in Final that will take place on September 22.
Important Matches of Asia Cup 2018
While all the teams that have qualified for the Asia Cup 2018 are capable of putting in tough competition before their opponents, these are the India and Pakistan which are going to steal the limelight for many reasons. First of all, India is the best team as it is the defending champion and it has won the tournament five times before. Secondly, it is Pakistan which is one of the best performing cricket teams in recent times, mainly for its winning the Champions trophy 2017.
Thirdly, both India and Pakistan are arch-rivals and their encounters with each other offer the best entertainment to the people on both sides of the border.
In Asia Cup 2018, the first encounter between India and Pakistan will take place on September 19 as the fifth match of the group stage of the tournament.
According to media reports, the tickets for much anticipated India Pakistan match in Asia Cup 2018 have already been sold out. Unfortunately, India’s key player and skipper Virat Kohli will not play the tournament, instead, Rohit Sharma will lead his team.
History of Asia Cup
Asia Cup had begun after the establishment of Asian Cricket Council in 1983. The first Asia Cup took place in Sharjah in 1984 in an ODI format. The tournament was scheduled to take place after every two years. In 2016, a rotation between T-20 format and ODI was decided. So, the Asia Cup 2016 was the first tournament in T-20 form, and now the Asia Cup 2018 is going to be in ODI format. Till now, India is the best team of the event as it has the most number of wins on its credit.
