Asia Cup – The mini world cup of sub-continent!

The battle for the Asia Cup will resume today after long wait of four years. The six-nation tournament was last staged in Sri Lanka in 2004. The political problems between India and Pakistan have restricted the number of Asia Cup tournaments to just eight since its inception in 1983-84. After a long wait now, the best cricketers in the continent will appear in this tournament.

Unlike IPL, this will be less glamorous with less money involved but the national pride will reign supreme in this tournament. With all the experienced teams rubbing their shoulders with each other, there will be much scope for the entertainment and fun.

The STAR Cricket Asia Cup tournament will feature the biggies Pakistan, India and defending champion Sri Lanka besides Bangladesh and two minnows in United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong

This season has come like a cricket extravaganza for the fans. After the much pulsating IPL, Asia cup is here to be followed by the Champions trophy! In this cricket carnival, today on the first day, Bangladesh will take on United Arab Emirates in Lahore and hosts Pakistan will face the inexperienced Hong Kong team in Karachi.

Pakistan defeated Hong Kong by 173 runs in the tournament’s last edition at Sri Lanka in 2004. So for today’s match as well no doubt the favorite team is of Pakistan.

For the other match, UAE, a mix of expatriate talent, will surely take heart from its lone victory in ODIs that came in Lahore against Netherlands way back in the 1996 World Cup. Bangladesh will have to beat this team to save its face.

Pakistan and India will also resume their traditional rivalry after Pakistan clinched the title in recently concluded Tri-series. This time the Indian side will try hard to beat their traditional rivals at their home!

The real battle of the series will be between Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. On the other hand teams like Hong Kong and United Arab Emirates will get the opportunity to learn a few tricks of the trade from the superior opponents.

Bangladesh have more often cut a sorry figure whenever they met big teams barring a few exceptions, so they would be keen to shrug off that image and put up a spirited fight to create an upset.

Having constantly faced questions from foreign teams over the wisdom of having international cricket events in the strife torn country, the Pakistan Cricket Board will also be keeping its fingers crossed that everything goes well over the next two weeks.

Hosting Asia Cup will also act as a dress rehearsal for the Champions trophy, slated for September. Led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India is coming to Pakistan after a gap of two and half years when they last toured in early 2006 for a Test series.

After launching their campaign with a match against Hong Kong on Wednesday, the Indians will lock horns with the arch-rivals Pakistan. Due to the anticipated large crowds, organizers have increased the prices of the tickets for this match.

The tri-series win in Bangladesh makes Pakistan a confident side so it would be tough for India and Sri Lanka to rein them easily. Sri Lanka, led by Mahela Jaywardene, have not played one-day cricket since losing series 0-2 against the West Indies in April. They would also look to get back to winning ways.

No wonder all teams are studded with specialist spinners. Pakistan is opting for Saeed Ajmal and Mansoor Amjad and three spinning all-rounders in Shahid Afridi, Fawad Alam and Shoaib Malik.

India will definitely miss the services of their two most experienced bowlers in off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and pacer Sreesanth. The presence of the four Test playing nations of Asia has definitely raised the value of the tournament.