The 2018 Asia Cup Qualifier was a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

tournament that was held in Malaysia from 29 August to 6 September 2018. The event served as the qualifier for the

2018 Asia Cup The 2018 Asia Cup (also known as Unimoni Asia Cup for sponsorship reasons) was a One-Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that was held in the United Arab Emirates in September 2018. It was the 14th edition of the Asia Cup and the third t ...

. The top two teams from the group stage met in the final, with the winner progressing to the 2018 Asia Cup. The fixture between the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

and

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

on 30 August 2018 was a

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

(ODI) match. It was the first time both sides had played each other in an ODI match, with the UAE going on to win the fixture by 78 runs. The United Arab Emirates finished top of the group stage with eight points. They were joined in the final by

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, who finished second with seven points, and a better

net run rate Net run rate (NRR) is a statistical method used in analysing teamwork and/or performance in cricket. It is the most commonly used method of ranking teams with equal points in limited overs league competitions, similar to goal difference in foo ...

than

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

, who also finished with seven points. Hong Kong won the final, beating the UAE by two wickets, to qualify for the 2018 Asia Cup. Hong Kong's captain,

Anshuman Rath Anshuman Rath (born 5 November 1997) is an Hong Kong-born Indian cricketer who previously played and led the Hong Kong national cricket team. In September 2019, he retired from Hong Kong national team to pursue a career in India. In August 2021, ...

, said afterwards that "all the hard work that has gone in this tournament over the last couple of months really has paid off".

Squads

The following teams and squads were selected to take part: Prior to the tournament,

replaced

Babar Hayat Babar Hayat (born 5 January 1992) is a Pakistani-born Hong Kong cricketer, who plays for the Hong Kong cricket team. He is a right-handed batsman and a former captain of the national team. International career Babar made his T20I cricket comple ...

as captain of Hong Kong. Jhathavedh Subramanyan was ruled out of Hong Kong's squad with injury, and was replaced by

Aftab Hussain Aftab Hussain (born 17 November 1997) is a Hong Kong cricketer. In November 2019, he was named in Hong Kong's squad for the 2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup in Bangladesh. He made his List A debut for Hong Kong, against Bangladesh, in the Emerg ...

Points table

Fixtures

Round 1

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Round 2

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Round 3

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Round 4

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Round 5

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Final

References

External links

Series home at ESPN Cricinfo
{{International cricket in 2018–19 Asia Cup International cricket competitions in Malaysia 2018 in Malaysian sport International cricket competitions in 2018–19 ACC Asia Cup Qualifier