It will be a blockbuster Christmas for cricket fans as India and Pakistan- the two traditional rivals, will gear up to face each other in the U-19 Asia Cup. Two teams have a grandstand rivalry and fans are waiting eagerly waiting to experience another electrifying clash.
The encounter will take place on December 25 and comes just months after the two rivals had met in the T20 World Cup and Pakistan turned out to be the winners in that mouth-watering match.
Eight teams to participate in the tournament
Eight teams are slated to take part in the U-19 World Cup. The eight teams will be divided into two groups of four. Group A contains India, Pakistan, UAE and Afghanistan while Group B has Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Kuwait. The top two teams from both the groups will contest the semifinals. The final is scheduled to be played on January 1.
India aim for eighth title
Indian team won the tournament seven times. This tournament was first played in 1989 and India were the inaugural champions after beating Sri Lanka in the final. Players like Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan and Robin Uthappa have been former winners of the competition. India were the joint winners of the tournament in 2012 and lifted the trophy in 2014, 2018 and 2019 as well.
Schedule of the tournament
23 December: India vs UAE, Pakistan vs Afghanistan, Bangladesh vs Nepal
24 December: Sri Lanka vs Kuwait
25 December: India vs Pakistan, Bangladesh vs Kuwait, Afghanistan vs UAE
26 December: Sri Lanka vs Nepal
27 December: India vs Afghanistan, Pakistan vs UAE
28 December: Nepal vs Kuwait, Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh
30 December: First and second semi-final
1 January: Final
Indian team for the tournament
Squad - Harnoor Singh Pannu, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ansh Gosai, S K Rasheed, Yash Dhull (c), Anneshwar Gautam, Siddharth Yadav, Kaushal Tambe, Nishant Sindhu, Dinnesh Bana (wk), Aaradhya Yadav (wk), Rajangad Bawa, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Garv Sangwan, Ravi Kumar, Rishith Reddy, Manav Parakh, Amrit Raj Upadhyay, Vicky Ostwal, Vasu Vats
Standby players - Ayush Singh Thakur, Uday Saharan, Shashwat Dangwal, Dhanush Gowda, PM Singh Rathore.
