Two-time winners Sri Lanka A meet Bangladesh A in curtain-raiser

• ACC Men’s Emerging Teams Asia Cup (50 overs) commences tomorrow
• Eight teams in the fray

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Two-time winners Sri Lanka A will take on Bangladesh A in the curtain-raiser fixture of the ACC Men’s Emerging Teams Asia Cup (50 overs) which will be hosted by Sri Lanka. The match will take place at the SSC grounds tomorrow (Thursday). On the same day Afghanistan A will take on Oman A at the CCC grounds.

These two fixtures will launch the fifth edition of the tournament originated by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) to develop the talents of the most prominent young cricketers of Asia.

The fixture between arch rivals India A and Pakistan A will take place at the R Premadasa Stadium under lights at 2 p.m. on 19 July.

The tournament was first held in 2013 in Singapore where India Under-23 emerged winners beating Pakistan Under-23 in the final by nine wickets. The second edition held in 2017 in Bangladesh saw Sri Lanka Under-23 winning the tournament with Pakistan Under-23 once again being on the losing side by five wickets.

Sri Lanka Under-23 retained the title in 2018 when they hosted the tournament defeating India Under-23 by three runs in a thrilling final played at the R Premadasa Stadium.

The last edition was held in 2019 with Bangladesh again the hosts. On this occasion Pakistan Under-23 finally broke the hoodoo and won the final beating Bangladesh Under-23 by 77 runs.

The defending champions will make their first appearance on 14 July when they take on Nepal at the CCC grounds. On the same day India A will meet USA A at the SSC grounds.

Eight teams are participating in the 2023 tournament in two groups. The groupings – GROUP A: Sri Lanka A, Bangladesh A, Afghanistan A and Oman A. GROUP B: Pakistan A, India A, Nepal and UAE A.

THE FIXTURES

• 13 July: Sri Lanka A v Bangladesh A at SSC (10 a.m.), Afghanistan A v Oman A at CCC (10 a.m.)
• 14 July: India A v UAE A at SSC (10 a.m.), Pakistan A v Nepal at CCC (10 a.m.)
• 15 July: Bangladesh A v Oman A at SSC (10 a.m.), Sri Lanka A v Afghanistan A at CCC (10 a.m.)
• 16 July: Rest day
• 17 July: Pakistan A v UAE A at P Sara Oval (10 a.m.), India A v Nepal at R Premadasa Stadium (2 p.m.)
• 18 July: Bangladesh A v Afghanistan A at P Sara Oval (10 a.m.), Sri Lanka A v Oman A at R Premadasa Stadium (2 p.m.)
• 19 July: Nepal v UAE A at P Sara Oval (10 a.m.), Pakistan A v India A at R Premadasa Stadium (2 p.m.)
• 20 July: Rest day
• 21 July: Semi-final 1 (Group A1 v Group B2) at P Sara Oval (10 a.m.), Semi-final 2 (Group B1 v Group A2) at R Premadasa Stadium (2 p.m.)
• 22 July: Rest day
• 23 July: Final at R Premadasa Stadium (2 p.m.)

THE SQUADS

• INDIA A: Yash Dhull (c), Abhishek Sharma (vc), Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Sai Sudharsan, Nikin Jose, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, Nishant Sindhu, Manav Suthar, Yuvrajsinh Dodiya, Harshit Rana, Akash Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Riyan Parag
• PAKISTAN A: Moha-mmad Haris (c & wk), Omair Yousuf (vc), Amad Butt, Arshad Iqbal, Haseebullah Khan, Kamran Ghulam, Shahnawaz Dahani, Mehran Mumtaz, Mubasir Khan, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Qasim Akram, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Sufiyan Muqeem, Tayyab Tahir
• BANGLADESH A: Saif Hassan (c), Zakir Hasan (vc & wk), Parvez Hossain Emon (wk), Akbar Ali (wk), Soumya Sarkar, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Mahedi Hasan, Rakibul Hasan, Mrittunjoy Chowdhury, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Ripon Mondol, Musfik Hasan, Naim Sheikh, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Shahadat Hossain
• AFGHANISTAN A: Shahidullah Kamal (c), Ikram Alikhil (wk), Ishaq Rahimi (wk), Riaz Hassan, Ihsanullah Janat, Noor Ali Zadran, Zubaid Akbari, Bahir Shah, Allah Noor, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Izharulhaq Naveed, Wafadar Momand, Mohammad Ibrahim, Mohammad Saleem, Zia-ur-Rehman, Bilal Sami.
• NEPAL: Rohit Paudel (c), Arjun Saud(wk), Aasif Sheikh (wk), Kushal Bhurtel, Gulsan Jha, Sompal Kami, Pratish GC, Dev Khanal, Sandeep Jora, Kushal Malla, Lalit Rajbanshi, Bhim Sharki, Pawan Sarraf, Surya Tamang, Kishor Mahato, Shyam Dhakal.
• OMAN A: Aqib Ilyas (c), Jatinder Singh, Kashyap Prajapati, Ayaan Khan, Shoaib Khan, Suraj Kumar (wicketkeeper), Jay Odedra, Kaleemullah, Fayyaz Butt, Samay Shrivastav, Wasim Ali, Rafiullah, Abdul Rauf (wk), Shubo Pal, Muhammed Bilal Shah.

UAE A:  Ali Naseer (c), Adithya Shetty, Aryansh Sharma, Ansh Tandon, Ashwanth Valthapa, Ethan D’Souza, Fahad Nawaz, Jash Giyanani, Jonathan Figy, Lovepreet Singh, Matiullah, Mohammad Faraazuddin, Muhammad Jawadullah, Nilansh Keswani and Sanchit Sharma.

SRI LANKA A: To be announced