Asia Cup begins today

Sports Reporter :
The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Asia Cup will begin at Gaddafi Stadium in Multan, Pakistan today.

Hosts Pakistan will face Nepal in the inaugural match, which will start at 3.30pm (Bangladesh Standard Time).

All the matches will be Day/Night affairs.

The gala extravaganza will be 50-over-a-side.

Private satellite Bangladeshi sports channel T Sports and International sports channel Star Sports will telecast the match live.

A total of six teams splitting into two groups will take part in Asia Cup, the most prestigious cricket competition in Asia.

Hosts Pakistan, India and Nepal are in Group-A, while co-hosts Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are in Group-B.

Top two teams from each group will play in the ‘Super Four’.

Top two teams will get tickets of the final.

The final will be held at Ranasinghe Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on September 17.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh will start their Asia Cup campaign tomorrow.

The Tigers will face Sri Lanka in their first Group-B match at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Sri Lanka.

The match will start at 3.30pm (BST).

It is noteworthy that this is the 16th edition of Asia Cup, which is called the World Cup Cricket of Asia.

India clinched the Asia Cup title for highest time.

They won the Asia Cup trophy for seven times.

On the other hand, Sri Lanka emerged the champions in Asia Cup for six times.

Pakistan clinched the Asia Cup for only two times.

The Asia Cup had been started since 1984.

But from the very beginning Bangladesh failed to show satisfactory performance.

Later, the Tigers have improved their position and reached the final three times since 2012.

Bangladesh became runners-up for three times.

They failed to attain the Asia Cup.

It is pathetic that Bangladesh lost to Pakistan in the final by two runs at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka in 2012.

This time Bangladesh are balanced side and they can take place at least ‘Super Four’.

If the Tigers achieve the trophy of this year’s cricket meet, it will not be a fluke.