Oman to host first-ever ACC T20 Emerging Teams Asia Cup

Oman will host the first-ever T20 Emerging Teams Asia Cup, announced the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) on September 20 (Friday) in a press release. The tournament will begin on October 18 and will be played by eight teams across nine days to determine the winner. 

All the matches will be played at the Oman Cricket Academy Ground in Muscat, the capital city of Oman.

The teams in the tournament will include the U-23 or emerging sides from five Test-playing nations India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan as well as the senior men’s teams from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), hosts Oman and Hong Kong. 

The senior men’s teams from associate nations qualified after finishing as the top three sides from the ACC Men’s Premier Cup 2024, which was held in Oman between April 12 and 21. While UAE won the tournament by defeating Oman in the final, Hong Kong defeated Nepal in the third-place playoff to secure their place in the all-important Emerging Teams Asia Cup. 

This will be the first edition of the tournament played in the T20 format as the previous five editions were held in the 50-over format of the game. The inaugural tournament was held in 2013 in Singapore which India won by defeating Pakistan in the final. 

The last edition of the tournament, held in Sri Lanka was won by Pakistan where they defeated the Indian side by 128 runs to lift their second title. Sri Lanka and Pakistan are the only two teams to have won the tournament twice. Pakistan won their first title in 2019 while Sri Lanka became the Emerging Teams Asian champions in 2017 and 2018. 

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