The T20 World Cup is beginning to loom around the corner and we might get a better indication of some of the runners and riders throughout the rest of September as the Asia Cup is played out in the UAE with the enhanced tournament likely to offer up some good clues.
India were the last winners of this competition when it took place two years ago. It was a 50 over tournament then but to assist with preparations for the T20 World Cup it will be played in the 20 over format this time around.
Recent Winners
2023 – India
2022 – Sri Lanka
2018 – India
2016 – India
2014 – Sri Lanka
2012 – Pakistan
2010 – India
2008 – Sri Lanka
2004 – Sri Lanka
2000 – Pakistan
The Format
The competition has been extended to eight teams for the 2025 version of the tournament and in the initial phase those sides have been split into two groups of four where each team plays the other three in their group. The top two in each table progresses to the Super Fours where each team plays the other three sides. The top two from that group will contest the final in Dubai on September 28. The whole tournament is a T20 competition with international T20 rules.
Group A
The most successful team in the history of this competition will headline Group A as the tournament favourites India are the main side in this section. They are the defending champions and with a T20 World Cup on home soil five months from now you would expect to see the best of them. As ever in these multi-team events Pakistan have made their way into this group. Pakistan haven’t won this tournament since 2012 but they did win a recent tri-series in this part of the world at the weekend. It would be a massive surprise if those two don’t qualify from the group because the other two teams are Oman, who have had a taste of T20 World Cups in three of the last four tournaments without much success, and the host nation UAE who will be out to show their improvement ahead of the Asia qualifier for the T20 World Cup.
Group B
The ‘Group of Death’ in this tournament is Group B where we are guaranteed to lose a potential winner in the first phase of the competition. Sri Lanka won this tournament the last time it was a 20 over event and with them co-hosting the T20 World Cup in February they will be keen to put a bit of a marker down here. Afghanistan are probably the most improved white ball side in Asia since the last Asia Cup and they will be aiming to make it out of this group but the fact that Bangladesh are in here means that someone established is going to fall by the wayside. The other team in the group is Hong Kong for whom in this company being competitive in all three matches ahead of the T20 World Cup qualifier is probably the primary aim.
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Outright Betting
Clearly India are going to be hard to beat in this tournament but they’ll have to play someone in the final and if we can get who that team will be then we will have a value shot in the final on a wicket which will probably be tired by then so it wouldn’t be the biggest surprise in the world if India get upset in that situation where the toss might be significant or someone has a day out or the track turns square or something like that.
I actually think Sri Lanka are the value pick in that situation but one wrong move against Bangladesh or Afghanistan and they could be out of the tournament in the group stage which is anything but ideal. Pakistan are guaranteed to be in the Super Four stage barring something extremely unlikely so that is a good starting point for a bet and they have just seen off Afghanistan to win the tri-series here which will help should the two meet in the Super Fours. Pakistan have played a lot of T20 cricket in recent times. They have played 14 T20I games since May 28 so they should be in a grove here and at 5/1 they might be the best bet to take India on with.
Top Batter
Without wanting to be disrespectful I think we have to take a batter in the India or Pakistan teams. They are going to get two innings against weaker Oman and UAE attacks and you would imagine that in those matches the batters who get in will get the chance to score bigger runs than in the other group where two of the three matches for the established sides are against other established teams so for this market I’m firmly in the India or Pakistan camp.
You would imagine that India are most likely to make it through to the final so taking an India batter makes the most sense. The question is who to take. We don’t actually know how India will line up at the top of the order which doesn’t help but given that he walloped 135 against England earlier in the year, you would imagine that Abhishek Sharma will get a starting spot and he’s the kind of player who could put the weaker attacks to the sword. 7/1 isn’t usually my sort of price for a market of this kind but when I’ve levelled it down to two teams and effectively no more than 10 batters I’m happy to take that price. Sharma showed in the last two IPL seasons that he can be as destructive as anyone and he’ll open the batting so he ticks plenty of boxes.
Top Bowler
There is also a market for the top tournament bowler where in truth the same criteria has to apply. In fact, the leading bowler is probably more likely to come from India or Pakistan because they are going to take more wickets with a potential 20 up for grabs against the UAE and Oman but I do wonder if India are more likely to rotate their bowlers than Pakistan are. India have a hectic month of big cricket in October whereas the Pakistan stuff after this tournament doesn’t carry quite as much context.
I’m going to take that as being the case and so I’ll go with a Pakistan bowler here. The one in question is Sufiyan Muqeem. I always think that if the lesser sides are going to struggle these days it is against mystery spin and it isn’t going to take too much for these pitches to tire and for the spinners to come into the game. Muqeem bowled well enough in the recent tri-series to suggest that he’ll start the tournament and if he can get off to a good start and feast on Oman in the opening game he should play a prominent role.
Tips
Back Pakistan to win Asia Cup for a 2/10 stake at 6.00 with William Hill
Back S.Muqeem Top Tournament Bowler (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with William Hill (1/4 1-4)
Back them here:
Back A.Sharma Top Tournament Batter (e/w) for a 2/10 stake at 8.00 with Bet365 (1/4 1-4)
