Asia Cup tournament has always acted as a battlefield if some of the best teams of Asian continent. However, it has another color of the spectrum to display. It provides a chance to budding teams to grow, while playing against the experienced teams. Asia Cup 2008 is all set to keep the tradition on by providing a chance to teams like UAE and Hong Kong to play against most proficient teams like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Also, the teams like Bangladesh has the right chance to further improve their cricketing spirit in this tournament.
Sri Lanka – Fighting to hold the Title

Sri Lanka cricket team squad for Asia Cup 2008 includes names like Mahela Jayawardene (Captain), Kumar Sangakkara (vice-captain), Mahela Udawatte, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Silva, Chamara Kapugedera, Kaushal Weeraratne, Farveez Maharoof, Chaminda Vaas, Dilhara Fernando, Muthiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Jehan Mubarak and Nuwan Kulasekera.

Sri Lanka won the last edition held in 2004 by defeating India, the 4 time champion of this tournament. For this, it has decided to bring in its most expert players like Sanath Jayasuriya, who regained his lost reputation in the recent Indian Premium League held in India.

Also, there will be place for spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, Farveez Maharoof and fast bowler Dilhara Fernando. All these players will be the aces for Sri Lankan Team to maintain its upper hand in the game.

Bangladesh Cricket Plans

Bangladesh cricket players, popularly known as Tigers, have not been playing good cricket in the recent events. However, the performance improved in the recent Kitply tournament, which has raised the expectation level of the cricket lovers from his team. Bangladesh team must have the most proficient players in the squad and thus, the team decided will have names like Habibul Bashar, Mohammad Ashraful, Mashrafe Mortaza and Tapash Baisya amongst others.

Hong Kong cricket squad for Asia Cup 2008 include following names:

Tabarak Dar RHB/RMF (Captain)
Courtney Kruger RHB/OB (Vice Captain)
Skhawat Ali RHB/RMF
Irfan Ahmed RHB/RMF
Butt Hussain RHB/RMF
Nadeem Ahmed RHB/SLA
Munir Dar RHB/SLA
Najeeb Amar LHB/SLA
Afzaal Haider RHB/RMF
Ashish Gadhia RHB/RMF
James Atkinson RHB/WK
Zain Abbas RHB/RMF
Roy Lamsam RHB/RMF
Wakas Barkat RHB/WK
Toby BrownLHB/LMF

The Hong Kong National selection panel has kept these names to play a good cricket in Pakistan and try to build international fame for itself.

UAE cricket team for Asia Cup 2008 has come with following names:

Saqib Ali (Captain)
Mohd. Tauqir (Vice Captain)
Khurram Khan
Arshad Ali
Zahid Shah
Amjad Javed
Shadeep Silva
Vikrant Shetty

It is time to wait for the teams to clash for a prestigious win in most celebrated Asian cricket event.

Asia Cup 2008 is scheduled to start on June 24 and the stage has been set for the big guns like India and Pakistan, as well as for budding teams like UAE and Hong Kong. Pakistan has taken the responsibly to host the big show this time. India, who had lifted this prestigious cup maximum number of 4 times, is aiming high with its strong team profile. Let us take a look at team profiles of two most celebrated participants of Asia Cup, India and Pakistan.
India – The Powerful Impact

The Team India is on all time high with the spell of recent Indian Premium League, which took the whole world by storm. Also, one can’t easily forget their undisputed win in first twenty 20 tournament held last year. The interesting part is that Team India won the final of twenty 20 series against none other than the cricketing rival Team Pakistan.

India has a number of celebrity players in the team, which have proved their mettle in past few events, including IPL. Let us take a look at most promising cricket players of Team India:

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, plying the dual role of Captain and wicketkeeper for Team India.
Yuvraj Singh, the vice-captain of Team India and a veteran player to watch for.
Yusuf Pathan, RP Singh, Pragyan Ojha are included in the balling squad of Team India, which will be playing to grab Asia Cup 2008. Though star player S Sreesanth has been ruled out because of rehabilitation.
Virender Sehwag, Piyush Chawla, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Robin Uthappa are amongst other players chosen for Asia Cup 2008, keeping in mind their current good performances.

With such impressive line of players, Team India will be a treat to watch, while playing on the grounds of neighboring cricket country.

Pakistan – Working Hard For A Come Back

If Team India is riding on the success of cricket innovations like Twenty 20 World Cup and Indian Premium League, players of Pakistan Team are celebrating their most recent win in Bangladesh tri-series. And, there is one more reason for the team to celebrate, as they won the final of this series against none other than India. This will definitely fuel their game plan to win the upcoming event of Asia Cup 2008.

The main players of Pakistan team for Asia Cup 2008 include names like Mohammad Asif, Shoaib Akhtar, Misbah-Ul-Haq, Sohail Tanvir, Shoaib Malik (Captain) and Mohammad Yousuf.

The cricket team of Pakistan will find this tournament as the concrete platform to wash away their latest controversies related to mainstream bowlers Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar. Also, the team will be looking for best time to forget the tragedy of mysterious demise of their cricket coach.

More than anything else, Pakistan will have the home advantage of playing on the known cricket grounds of the country. However, there is no way to underestimate the growing spirit of Team India. Watch out for the clash of the Titans and get entertained with best team of your life.

The ninth edition of Asia cup cricket is one the way and is scheduled to begin on June 24, 2008. Pakistan will be playing the role of hosting company, as decided by Asian Cricket Council (ACC). The smell of this exciting event is already in the air, as cricket is one of the most celebrated sports in Asian continent. Keeping in mind the popularity of this game, it would be a nice idea to trace the history and related aspects of this auspicious tournament.
How It All Commenced

The seeds for international sports event called Asia Cup cricket were sown in 1983, when founding stone for ACC was laid in UAE. The first edition of this event was held in 1984 at Sharjah and was won by India. It is worth mentioning that Indian cricket team has won this tournament maximum number of four times. Since its first edition, Asia Cup has been held eight times, hosted by different participating countries like India, Sri Lanka, UAE and Bangladesh. Pakistan will be hosting the event for first time in year 2008.
About Asian Cricket Council

ACC was formed in 1983, as an intervening authority for enhancing the value of this sport amongst Asian countries. It was headquartered at Sharjah, UAE, where the first edition of this prestigious event was held. The present working office of the Council is located at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and is presided by Arjuna Ranatunga, ex cricketer and Sri Lankan Cricket Chairman. The council consists of many small working bodies like ACC Development Committee, ACC Finance and marketing Committee and ACC Women’s Committee.
Format Of Asia Cup

It was originally decided to organize Asia Cup cricket after every two years. The decision has been recently taken to make this event biennial. This cricketing event follows the format of One Day Internationals. However, International Cricket Council objects upon the format followed by this Asian cricketing event.

Asia Cup Cricket 2008

The ninth edition of Asia Cup cricket is about to begin on 24th June and is scheduled to end on 6th of July. The event was scheduled to be held in 2006, but was postponed due to already frenzied schedule of other cricket tournaments. With Pakistan as the hosting country, following is the allocation of two opponent groups:

Group A with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and UAE as the members and
Group B with Pakistan, Hong Kong and India as the member teams.

Following is the schedule for various ODIs to be played:

Jun 24

Bangladesh v United Arab Emirates 1st ODI, Lahore
Pakistan v Hong Kong 2nd ODI, Karachi

Jun 25

Bangladesh v Sri Lanka 3rd ODI, Lahore
Hong Kong v India 4th ODI, Karachi

Jun 26

Sri Lanka v United Arab Emirates 5th ODI, Karachi
India v Pakistan 6th ODI, Karachi

Jun 28

A2 v B2 7th ODI, Karachi

Jun 29

A1 v B1 8th ODI, Karachi

Jun 30

A1 v A2 9th ODI, Karachi

Jul 2

B1 v B2 10th ODI, Karachi

Jul 3

A1 v B2 11th ODI, Karachi

Jul 4

A2 v B1 12th ODI, Karachi

Jul 6

T.B.C. v T.B.C. Final, Karachi

With the date approaching near, it is recommended to keep your schedule free for unlimited fun and excitement promised by Asia Cup 2008.