Pakistan legend Wasim Akram has already predicted the six-team tournament as showing ability to quality that has never been seen before.
Barring the lone qualifier Hong Kong, five other teams, including record seven-time champions India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, could beat each other on their day.
The tournament, which is being staged in the T20 format after six years, had to be moved to the UAE after hosts Sri Lanka expressed their inability to hold it back home amid the economic crisis facing the island nation.
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Although conditions in the UAE will be different from what teams experience in the World Cup in Australia in October-November, all competing sides will be looking to identify their final squad for the ICC event over the next two weeks. ,
There is also a lot at stake for the participating teams. India will look to execute their ultra-aggressive stance with the bat in a high-pressure environment starting with the opener against Pakistan on Sunday.
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All eyes will be on Virat Kohli, who will be expected to come out of a thin patch for a long time. The focus will be on the performances of the top three, including skipper Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, while injured pacer Jasprit Bumrah will be sorely missed.
Pakistan, a team that has been on the rise in the last 12 months, will be aiming to win the tournament it played in the ODI format 10 years ago.
He had to back down from some injury concerns ahead of the tournament with the star pacer Shaheen Afridi He was ruled out of the tournament due to a knee injury.
With a relatively inexperienced middle order, there will be more reliance on the opening pair of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.
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Afghanistan, led by the experienced Mohammad Nabi, will look to beat higher-ranked teams, something they were unable to do in the T20 World Cup here last year. Rashid Khan will be his trump card with the ball as always and will expect the batsmen to step up.
Under the new head coach Chris Silverwood, Sri Lanka have shown a lot of hope. There is no dearth of talent in the team and the event presents a perfect opportunity to become an overnight star and put a smile on the faces of those struggling back home.
Bangladesh, which have struggled in the shortest format since the World Cup, are eyeing course improvement under the leadership of Shakib Al Hasan, Ahead of the World Cup, Sridharan Sriram has been made technical director to address the shortcomings of T20.
India and Pakistan will be wary of Hong Kong in their group. Hong Kong qualified for the Asia Cup for the fourth time after beating the United Arab Emirates in the qualifier held in Oman.
Squad:
India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan. Standbys: Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Deepak Chahar.
PakistanBabar Azam (Captain), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jr., Naseem Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir.
BangladeshShakib Al Hasan (Captain), Anamul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Mahmudullah, Mahedi Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Hasan Mahmood, Mustafizur Rahman, Nasum Ahmed, Sabbir Rahman, Mehdi Hasan Miraj, Parve Hossain, Parve Hossain, , Nurul Hasan Sohan, Taskin Ahmed.
Sri LankaSri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (captain), Danushka Gunathilaka, Pathum Nisanka, Kusal Mendis, Charit Aslanka, Bhanuka Rajapakse, Ashen Bandara, Dhananjaya de Silva, Vanindu Hasaranga, Mahesh Thekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Praveen Jayavikrama, Chamika Karunanu Pathiradne, Mathhisha Fernando, Dinesh Chandimal.
Afghanistan: Mohammad Nabi (C), Najibullah Zadran (VC), Afsar Zazai (WK), Azmatullah Omarzai, Fareed Ahmed Malik, Fazal Haque Farooqui, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Hazratullah Zazai, Ibrahim Zadran, Karim Janat, Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Naveen Ul Haq, Noor Ahmed, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Rashid Khan, Samiullah Shinwari and Usman Ghani.
Hong Kong: Nizakat Khan (capt), Kinchit Shah, Zeeshan Ali, Haroon Arshad, Babar Hayat, Aftab Hossain, Ateeq Iqbal, Ejaz Khan, Ehsan Khan, Scott McKennie (wk), Ghazanfar Mohammad, Yasim Mortaza, Dhananjay Rao, Wajid Shah, Aayush Shukla, Ahan Trivedi, Mohammad Waheed.