Asia Cup 2022: India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka, clash of final 4

Asia Cup 2022: The group stage matches of the Asia Cup are now done as the tournament now heads into the super 4 round, the clash of the teams that have outplayed their opposition. The Asian teams competing are looking at this tournament as the dress rehearsal for the T20I World Cup that is scheduled to be played in Australia later this year. Earlier the Asia Cup was supposed to be hosted by Sri Lanka, but due to the financial crisis in the island nation, the tournament had to be shifted to the UAE. Participating teams such as India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Pakistan have made it to the Super 4 round, however, Bangladesh and Hong Kong have crashed out of it. Here is a quick look at how each team has fared so far.

Afghanistan:

Team Afghanistan's euphoric rise in international cricket is a story in itself. The spinner-heavy Afghanistan team has emerged as one of the most dominant teams in Asia and is the title contender for this year's Asia Cup. The Mohammad Nabi-led Afghanistan team started their 2022 Asia Cup campaign with a thumping victory as they defeated Sri Lanka by 8 wickets. The Afghan bowlers tore into the Sri Lankan batting and restricted them to 106 which they later chased down with 59 balls remaining. They were on a different level altogether when they took on Bangladesh at Sharjah. Afghanistan did manage to restrict Bangladesh to 127 but did find themselves in heaps of trouble when they came out to bat, but late cameos from Najibullah Zadran helped them win the match by seven wickets.

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India:

The favorites of the tournament. The team has the most eyeballs on them and how they go about things. Rohit Sharma-led team India has been at their dominant best and has outplayed every opposition they have faced. Unlike the last time in the T20I World Cup, when India met Pakistan in the first match of the Asia Cup, they made sure that they executed their plans to perfection and left the Pakistan batsmen reeling on 147. In this particular match, India lost Rohit, Virat, and Rahul quickly but brutal hitting from Hardik won the game for India. India next took on Hong Kong and scored 192 runs by the end of 20 overs and restricted Hong Kong to 152.

Sri Lanka:

They rather had an extremely timid start to their tournament and were crushed by Afghanistan in the first game by 8 wickets, but the hosts of the tournament made sure they register a quick and solid comeback. In a battle of words, Bangladesh management had called out Sri Lanka for not having world-class players at their disposal but they replied in style as they chased down 184 runs with 4 balls remaining which resulted in Bangladesh getting eliminated

Pakistan:

The Babar Azam-led side which is currently the world number 3 and has batsmen like Mohammed Rizwan and Asif Ali at their disposal is one of the leading contenders for the title. They had to suffer a 5-wicket loss against their arch-rivals India but it somehow did not dampen their spirits. In a knockout match, Pakistan brought their very best to the table and defeated Hong Kong by 155 runs to qualify for the super 4.