The most prestigious cup of the continent, the Asia Cup, where the giants of cricket will fight to see which amongst them deserves the top position, is just around the corner. The tournament that started to establish goodwill amongst the nation, is one of the most sought-after tournaments in the sport.
With 5 teams all set to battle for the trophy this year, there is still uncertainty about the last team. There are four teams that will fight for the sixth position in the qualifiers to be held in August.
It was initially planned for Kuala Lumpur to host the four-team Asia Cup Qualifier in August 2020. The qualification will now begin on August 20, 2022, in Sri Lanka, just before the Asia Cup, which will begin on August 27, 2022. Kuwait and the UAE progressed to the Asia Cup Qualifier after winning the Western Region group and reaching the final. The top two teams in the Eastern Region group, Singapore and Hong Kong, together with Kuwait and the UAE, qualified for the Asia Cup Qualifiers.
So which among the 4 teams can qualify for the Asia Cup? Let’s take a look at their past performances and their chances to play in the top tournament.
UAE
The team looks like the top contender to find the 6th spot. The most experienced team of the lot, UAE has won the most matches in the past one year.
Even this year, they have continuously been playing against USA, Scotland, Nepal and other countries for their spot in the ODI World Cup and that has gotten them a lot of international exposure that will help them in the qualifiers.
Hong Kong
The last entrant of the last season, Hong Kong has proved itself over the years with their talent and performance at the right time. They were in a group with giants like Pakistan and India and had very little chance to win any matches. The tournament wasn’t the best for them, as they lost all their matches.
Since then, they haven’t played a lot of cricket. They haven’t had any bilateral series since the trophy to have any international exposure. This slims their chance of fixing the spot in the tournament.
Kuwait
Kuwait is quite an unknown name in the international cricket circuit. The only few games that they have played are against small Asian teams. They have won the matches but if we were to compare their experience with the others teams in the Qualifiers, they stand a slim chance of winning against them.
Singapore
The story of Singapore doesn’t have a different tale to tell. The team is highly inexperienced but has a few players like Tim David who have been exposed to a better level of cricket. It will be good to see how the young side performs in the qualifiers.
In all, the 6th spot in the Asia Cup opens a debacle about how much are we focusing on the smaller teams and how ready they are to play International cricket against the giants of the game. With such less experience and infrastructure, it will be an adventure to see how they perform in the qualifiers.
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