Last Updated on 4 years ago by Charbel Coorey
Cricket News: List of squads for the 2022 Asia Cup | Squads for all the teams at Asia Cup 2022 in UAE
The 2022 Asia Cup is set to commence from 28th August in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan will be competing in the upcoming edition that will be held in the T20I format. The games will be played in Dubai and Sharjah. There will be six matches in the group stages that will run till 2nd September.
The Super 4s will be played from 3rd September-9th September and the final will be eventually contested in Dubai on 11th September. Most of the sides will be heading to the UAE in the coming 10 days to step up their preparations.
Squads for 2022 Asia Cup
The Asia Cup serves them an ideal opportunity to prepare for the T20 World Cup set to be held in Australia later on this year. In that backdrop, let us take a look at the five squads for the Asia Cup and delve deeper into what they have to offer.
India
Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (VC), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dinesh Karthik (WK), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan.
Verdict: The Indian squad has quite a few highlights. Firstly, it marks the return of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul to the T20I setup. The duo will most likely assume the top-order responsibilities unless the team management opts to further experiment with these spots. Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel have missed out from the roster due to their respective injuries.
It provides an excellent chance to Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan to cement their spots in the build-up to the World Cup. In the larger scheme of things, it is likely that only one of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravi Bishnoi might make it to the final squad for the World Cup. The Indian XI appears to be pretty well-settled currently and certain important clarifications might be attained by the end of the Asia Cup.
Pakistan
Babar Azam (C), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir.
Verdict: The Pakistani batting will rely on the top-order duo of Babar Azam and Mohammed Rizwan, much alike the last year’s T20 World Cup. Naseem Shah makes an entry to the T20I setup in place of Hasan Ali and it will be interesting to witness the young pacer’s adaptation to the white-ball game.
The likes of Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf will be holding the key with the ball but it will be instrumental for the middle-order to step up to support Babar and Rizwan. The likes of Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali and Asif Ali will be looking to get in good groove to get rid of Pakistan’s arguable over-reliance on their opening batsmen.
Bangladesh
Squad: Shakib Al Hasan (C), Anamul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (WK), Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Mahmudullah, Mahedi Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman, Nasum Ahmed, Sabbir Rahman, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Ebadot Hossain, Parvez Hossain Emon, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Taskin Ahmed.
Verdict: Bangladesh will come into the Asia Cup on the back of an embarrassing 2-1 defeat in their recent T20I series vs Zimbabwe. The squad seemingly looks light on paper but the team has a tendency to spring up surprises occasionally in the Asia Cup. They have finished as the runners-up in the previous two editions of the tournaments in 2016 and 2018 respectively. They also reached the final in 2012.
With the core of the squad still intact, the team will be eagerly hoping to go one step ahead this time around. Unfortunately, the team faltered in all departments in the T20Is vs Zimbabwe so a holistic revamp in their form is mandatory for them to spark a turnaround in the Asia Cup. However, a moment of brilliance from one of the senior pros could serve as an inspiration for this seemingly talented setup to perform to their potential.
Afghanistan
Squad: Mohammad Nabi (C), Najibullah Zadran (vc), Afsar Zazai (wk), Azmatullah Omarzai, Farid Ahmad Malik, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Hazratullah Zazai, Ibrahim Zadran, Karim Janat, Mujib ur Rahman, Najibullah Zadran, Naveen ul Haq, Noor Ahmad, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Rashid Khan, Samiullah Shinwari
Verdict: Afghanistan have sprung a surprise by recalling 34-year old Samiullah Shinwari into the squad.
On paper, particularly with the ball, Afghanistan can provide a challenge in every match they play in familiar UAE conditions. However, whether their batting can hold up against some strong attacks remains to be seen.
Note: Sri Lanka are yet to name their confirmed squads for the Asia Cup. This article will be updated once they are announced accordingly.
