FAQs: Everything you need to know about the Women’s Asia Cup

It’s another World Cup year in women’s cricket, and the Asia Cup is here yet again to act as the perfect prelude to the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh later this year. 

However, only four of the participating countries (India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan) will be playing the tournament in Dhaka and Sylhet, while the remaining four (Thailand, UAE, Nepal, and Malaysia) have the golden opportunity to employ their skills against the full member nations. 

Here’s everything that you need to know about the continental competition beginning tomorrow — from teams to schedule to what you can expect from the teams. 

So, let’s do the three Ws of the tournament first — What, When and Where?

The Women’s Asia Cup this year is being played in Sri Lanka from July 19 in Dambulla in a T20 format, given that the ICC Women's T20 World Cup will begin in a few months from now. 

The tournament will run from July 19 to 28 and will feature 15 games. 12 of these will be group-stage games, and the remaining three will include both the semifinals on July 26 and the final on July 28. 

What’s the format of the tournament like?

Unlike the last edition, which had seven teams participating and every team playing each other once, this time, the eight teams are divided into two groups of four teams each. 

While Nepal, who are participating in the Asia Cup after 2016, are slotted in Group A along with India, Pakistan and UAE, hosts Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia are part of Group B. 

What about India vs Pakistan? Is it going to be competitive?

The biggest group stage clash, India vs Pakistan, will happen on the opening day itself, and the match will begin at 7:00 PM IST. While the contest has been billed as a high-octane clash, the Indian women have been absolutely dominant against their Pakistani counterparts, winning 11 T20I games compared to three losses.

Pakistan have a new captain: Nida Dar. She took the reigns from Bismah Mahroof, who recently said goodbye to the game. Dar will lead a young side that will also be without batter Javeria Khan, who also bid adieu to international cricket. 

Read the squads here

If you are still looking for some beef between teams, you should actually keep an eye out for Harmanpreet Kaur vs. Bangladesh (wink, wink). 

How was the 2022 edition of the Asia Cup? Were India dominant? How are they looking this year?

Oh yeah! Apart from a solitary game against Pakistan, the Women In Blue were rampant throughout the tournament, winning it undefeated. In fact, India have won the Women’s Asia Cup seven times. Bangladesh have won it once in 2018 when they defeated India in the final. 

The biggest moment of the 2022 edition came when Thailand women scripted history by beating Pakistan. 

Meanwhile, India have a lot of players in red-hot form, as seen in the South Africa multi-format series, and Harmanpreet's side would yet again start as the favourite to win the Asia Cup. 

How are other teams shaping up? Sri Lanka have been on a decent run, haven’t they? 

Surely! Chamari Athapaththu’s ladies have been performing quite well recently, winning nine out of their 12 games this year. The best part about this is that the Lankan side has other match-winners rising apart from their skipper, who has carried the team with a lot of responsibility. Do keep an eye out for Vishmi Gunaratne and Kavisha Dilhari in the tournament. 

Bangladesh and Pakistan have a lot of hard work to do in the batting department and would yet again depend on their bowlers to bring them back into the match.

Meanwhile, the four associate teams - Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia and UAE - are coming after fighting it out in the ACC Premier Cup and have some good momentum built for them to improve their overall game. It’s a golden opportunity for these cricketing nations who don’t get to play against the full member nations often. 

How can I watch this?

The Women’s Asia Cup will be telecasted on Star Sports Network and streamed on Disney + Hotstar. 

The first match begins at 2:00 PM IST tomorrow, and will be played between UAE and Nepal women. The India-Pakistan clash begins on the same day at 7:00 PM IST. 

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