Asia Cup 2018 Qualifiers: All You Need to Know

The Asia Cup 2018 Qualifiers is slated to begin in a couple of day’s time. Only one team out of the 6 participating teams will join the 5 other main teams in the tournament. The Qualifiers will consist of six teams. UAE will be the host of the tournament. Hong Kong, Nepal, Malaysia, Oman and Singapore are the five other teams who will fight it out for the top spot.

In the opening day of the tournament, three matches will be played. While hosts UAE will meet Singapore, Nepal will lock horns against Nepal and Malaysia will play against Hong Kong. The final of the tournament will be played on 6^th September.

The main Asia Cup will commence September 15. The opener will be played between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The high-voltage match of the tournament between arch-rivals India and Pakistan will be played on September 19.

Fixtures:

Wed Aug 29 – Malaysia v Hong Kong, Nepal v Oman, UAE v Singapore

Thu Aug 30 – UAE v Nepal, Hong Kong v Singapore, Malaysia v Oman

Sat Sep 1 – UAE v Hong Kong, Oman v Singapore, Malaysia v Nepal

Sun Sep 2 – Hong Kong v Oman, Malaysia v UAE, Nepal v Singapore

Tue Sep 4 – Malaysia v Singapore, UAE v Oman, Nepal v Hong Kong

Thu Sep 6 – Final

Asia Cup 2018

Host: UAE

Fixtures

Sat Sep 15 – Bangladesh v Sri Lanka, Dubai

Sun Sep 16 – Pakistan v Qualifier, Dubai

Mon Sep 17 – Sri Lanka v Afghanistan, Abu Dhabi

Tue Sep 18 – India v Qualifier, Dubai

Wed Sep 19 – India v Pakistan, Dubai

Thu Sep 20 – Bangladesh v Afghanistan, Abu Dhabi

Fri Sep 21 – Super Four matches, Dubai and Abu Dhabi

Sun Sep 23 – Super Four matches, Dubai and Abu Dhabi

Tue Sep 25 – Super Four, Dubai

Wed Sep 26 – Super Four, Abu Dhabi

Fri Sep 28 – final, Dubai

Players to watch out for

There are some exciting players who will be in action for their respective teams in the tournament. For Nepal, Sandip Lamichhane will be their most important player. The leg-spinner has already made his mark in the international circuit. He was quite impressive for the Delhi Daredevils in the limited opportunities he got in the IPL.

He will definitely look to make a mark in the tournament. Lamichhane will be looking to help his side win the tournament and qualify for the main event. For the hosts, UAE Rohan Mustafa will be a pretty important player. He is a promising batsman and has scored some good runs for UAE in the past. He narrowly missed out on the Player of the Tournament to Lamichhane when UAE and Nepal both qualified for the World Cricket League Division 2.

For Oman Bilal Khan will be the player to watch out for. He is a highly skilled left-arm fast bowler who has been at the forefront of the rise of Oman in world cricket. He will definitely look to make his mark and a prove a point or two as Oman hopes against odds of qualifying for the main event.