Asia Cup T20 Qualifiers: Teams, Schedule and Analysis

The first of its kind, T20 format Asia Cup is all set to begin on the 24th of this month. But what will precede the highly anticipated 14th edition of the tournament are the qualifiers which will begin today and go on till the 22nd of February. The team which will finish on top in the qualifiers will get a chance to play with the Asian giants in the main draw.

The four ICC Associate Nations participating in the qualifiers are: Afghanistan, Honk Kong, UAE and Oman. The four teams will play each other once, in a round robin format. There will be a total of 6 matches and the winner will join India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the main draw.

Here’s a quick analysis of the 4 teams:

Afghanistan:  

Afghanistan have a strong squad, but they will rely heavily on Mohammad Shahzad’s hitting prowess. Samiullah Shenwari, Shapoor Zadran and Dawlat Zadran are key figures as well. Afghanistan’s form in the last few T20Is that they have played has also been good. They will be favourites to win the qualifiers.

Honk Kong:

This team has not been at their absolute best, but they haven’t been bad either. They’ve beaten Bangladesh once and have shown decent form in their recent outings. 21-year-old Mark Chapman will be the player to watch out for after his unbeaten knock of 124 against UAE.

UAE:

The only team in the Qualifiers who haven’t earned the right to participate in the WT20 next month, UAE is known to surprise other teams once in a while. Shaiman Anwar has shown some potential in recent times and the team will look unto him to make some gains in the run scoring department.

Oman:

Asia Cup debutants Oman, have shown incredible promise by beating Netherlands and Afghanistan in the WT20 qualifiers, however, their recent form has been concerning. Oman will anyhow depend on Jatinder Singh with the bat and slinger Munis Ansari with the ball.

Fixtures:

February 19: Afghanistan v UAE

February 19: Hong Kong v Oman

February 20: Afghanistan v Oman

February 20: UAE v Hong Kong

February 21: Afghanistan v Hong Kong

February 22: UAE v Oman

Squads

Afghanistan:

Asghar Stanikzai (C), Amir Hamza, Dawlat Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Sadiq, Mohammad Nabi, Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Najibullah Zadran, Noor Ali Zadran, Rashid Khan, Samiullah Shenwari, Shafiqullah, Shapoor Zadran, Usman Ghani, Yamin Ahmadzai, Fareed Ahmad, Mirwais Ashraf, Najeeb Tarakai, Rokhan Barakzai

Hong Kong:

Tanwir Afzal (C), Aizaz Khan, Anshy Rath, Babar Hayat, Christopher Carter (wk), Mark Chapman, Haseeb Amjad, Adil Mehmood, Nadeem Ahmed, Nizakat Khan, Kinchit Shah, Ninad Shah, Tanveer Ahmed, Waqas Barkat, Waqas Khan

UAE:

Amjad Javed (C), Swapnil Patil (vc), Ahmed Raza, Fahad Tariq, Farhan Ahmed, Mohammad Naveed, Mohammad Shahzad, Mohammad Usman, Muhammad Kaleem, Qadeer Ahmed,Rohan Mustafa, Saqlain Haider, Shaiman Anwar, Usman Mushtaq. Zaheer Maqsood

Oman:

Sultan Ahmed (C/wk), Aamir Kaleem (vc), Aaqib Sulehri, Adnan Ilyas, Amir Ali, Munis Ansari, Bilal Khan, Jatinder Singh, Ajay Lalcheta, Mehran Khan, Rajeshkumar Ranpura, SufyanMehmood, Vaibhav Wategaonkar, Zeeshan Maqsood, Zeeshan Siddiqui, Khawar Ali, Mohammad Nadeem, Yousuf Al