Asia Cup 2022: Full squads, fixtures list, live streaming and everything you need to know about continental event

The Asia Cup returns to action later this month after a hiatus of four years with some of the region's top cricketing sides ready to battle it out in the Middle East.

Defending champions India, the most successful team in Asia Cup history, will be hoping to register a third straight win in the continental showpiece event, they can expect some stiff resistance from arch-rivals Pakistan as well as sides such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

The event carries a lot of prestige and historical significance given that it has existed since the 1980s and will no doubt give the winning team bragging rights as best in the continent. Asia Cup could also be viewed by some as an important preparation event for the T20 World Cup later in the year.

The tournament, after all, returns to the shortest format this year, having made its T20I debut in the 2016 edition in Bangladesh. And with teams such as India and Pakistan already having announced full strength squads, one can expect the Asia Cup to be a dress rehearsal of sorts for ICC's showpiece T20 event in Australia in October.

Ahead of the Asia Cup, we take a look at the squads, venues as well as other relevant information such as broadcasting details:

Squads

India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan. Standby: Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Deepak Chahar.

Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir.

Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan are yet to announce their squads. The sixth team of the tournament will be decided through a qualifier, with UAE, Kuwait, Singapore and Hong Kong in the fray.

Format

India and Pakistan find themselves in Group A alongside the undecided sixth team. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan form Group B.

Each team faces the remaining sides in their group once which makes for two matches per side. The top two teams from each group then progress to the Super Four stage, where all teams play each other once in round-robin format.

The top two teams in the Super Four stage then face each other in the final to determine the winner of the 2022 Asia Cup.

Schedule

27 August: Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan (Group B) in Dubai

28 August: India vs Pakistan (Group A) in Dubai

30 August: Bangladesh vs Afghanistan (Group B) in Sharjah

31 August: India vs TBA (Group A) in Dubai

1 September: Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh (Group B) in Dubai

2 September: Pakistan vs TBA (Group A) in Sharjah

3 September: B1 vs B2 (Super 4) in Sharjah

4 September: A1 vs A2 (Super 4) in Dubai

6 September: A1 vs B1 (Super 4) in Dubai

7 September: A2 vs B2 (Super 4) in Dubai

8 September: A1 vs B2 (Super 4) in Dubai

9 September: B1 vs A2 (Super 4) in Dubai

11 September: 1st Super 4 vs 2nd Super 4 (Final) in Dubai

Venues

The tournament was originally scheduled to be hosted in Sri Lanka, but had to ultimately be shifted out due to the political and economic crisis that has engulfed the island nation for months now.

The Asian Cricket Council ultimately fell back on the United Arab Emirates, which had hosted the inaugural tournament in 1984 as well the 1995 and 2018 editions.

The Dubai International Cricket Stadium and Sharjah Cricket Stadium will share the hosting duties for the tournament with the former hosting the final on 11 September.

Live telecast and streaming

The 2022 Asia Cup will be telecast on the Star Sports Network, with matches streamed live on Disney+ Hotstar. Additionally, one can follow the live scorecard and updates of the Asia Cup matches on Firstpost.com.

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