sports desk/

Asia Cup is going to start today. Afghanistan and Sri Lanka will face each other in the first match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium at 8 pm Bangladesh time. Afghanistan-Sri Lanka have met once in T20Is so far. Sri Lanka won that match by 6 wickets. This year’s Asia Cup will be held in the T20 format for the second time after the first T20 edition in 2016.

This year’s Asia Cup was supposed to be held in Sri Lanka. But due to the unstable political and economic situation in Sri Lanka, it was decided at the last minute to organize this year’s event in the United Arab Emirates. However, the hosting rights of this tournament still remain with the Sri Lanka Cricket Board. Yet Sri Lanka must be deprived of the added advantage of home ground and attendance.

Although Sri Lanka are ahead in terms of experience, there is no such thing as a favorite when the format is T20, anything can happen on any day. Rather, the recent form of Afghanistan in T20 and the ability of players to play T20 can be heavy for Afghanistan. On the other hand, Sri Lanka’s T20 team now has some great players, but they have failed to produce consistent results, winning just two out of 11 T20Is this year. Afghanistan have won 2 of their last 5 T20Is

Afghanistan built with Mujib, Rashid, Nabi, is now a matter of pride for any team. They have hard hitting batsmen like Hazratullah Jazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Najibullah Zadran in their batting site.

The Sri Lankan team is no less. The team has T20 batsmen like Danushka Gunathilaka, Kushal Mendis, Charith Asalanka, Vanuka Rajapaksa. There are T20 bowlers like Wanindu Hasranga, Wanindu Fernando.

Sri Lanka Probable XI: Kushal Mendis (wicketkeeper), Danushka Gunathilaka, Charith Asalanka, Vanuka Rajapakse, Dhananjaya de Silva/Asen Bandara, Dasun Shanaka (captain), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Mahish Thiksana, Mathisa Pathirana, Dilshan Madhushanka.

Afghanistan Probable XI: Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wicketkeeper), Ibrahim Zadran, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi (captain), Samiullah Shinwari, Rashid Khan, Karim Janat, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Noor Ahmed.