The 2022 Asia Cup Qualifier was a men's

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 st ...

tournament which took place in Oman in August 2022 to determine qualification for the

2022 Asia Cup The 2022 Asia Cup (also known as DP World Asia Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th edition of the Asia Cup cricket tournament, with the matches played as Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) during August and September 2022 in the United Arab Em ...

(which was originally scheduled to be played in 2020). The 2020 editions of the ACC Western and Eastern Region T20 tournaments were held in February and March 2020 by the

Asian Cricket Council The Asian Cricket Council also known as ACC is a cricket organisation which was established in 1983, to promote and develop the sport of cricket in Asia. Subordinate to the International Cricket Council, the council is the continent's regional ...

(ACC), with thirteen teams competing in total (eight in the Western event and five in the Eastern event) with the aim of progressing to the qualifier. These were scheduled to be followed by the Asia Cup Qualifier tournament in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

, which was due to be played in August 2020. However, in July 2020, the Asia Cup was postponed due to the

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, resulting in the postponement of the Qualifier. In May 2021, the Asian Cricket Council confirmed that there would be no Asia Cup in 2021, with that edition of the tournament deferred until 2023. It was later announced that there would be a T20I Asia Cup in 2022, to be hosted by the United Arab Emirates.

Summary

The Western Region qualifier was held by the

Gulf Cooperation Council The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf ( ar, مجلس التعاون لدول العربية الخليج ), also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC; ar, مجلس التعاون الخليجي), is a regional, inter ...

(GCC) in

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 ...

in February 2020 and the Eastern region qualifier was held in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

from 29 February to 6 March 2020. UAE and

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Ku ...

advanced to the main Asia Cup Qualifier after reaching the final of the Western Region event and they were joined by

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

and

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 List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

who finished in the top two positions in the Eastern event. These four teams contested the Asia Cup Qualifier to determine the sixth team to take part in the

(joining the five Asian Full Members of the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are 108 national associations, with 12 Full Members and 96 Associate Members. Founded in 1909 as the '' ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

were originally scheduled to take part in the Eastern Region Group, but they withdrew in February 2020 due to the

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...

and

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, who were also included in the original schedule, later withdrew their participation. On 23 February 2020,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

played their first ever T20I match, when they faced 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 (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...

in Group B of the Western Region qualifier. All matches in the qualification tournaments had

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are th ...

(T20I) status.

Teams

2020 ACC Western Region T20

The 2020 ACC Western Region T20 tournament was held from 23 to 27 February 2020 in

Muscat Muscat ( ar, مَسْقَط, ) is the capital and most populated city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the total population of Muscat Governorate was ...

, Oman, and acted as a first qualifying stage for the 2020 Asia Cup. Bahrain, Kuwait, Maldives, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE all announced their squads for the tournament. Following the conclusion of the group stage matches of the Western Region, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE had all progressed to the semi-finals. An incredible six-wicket win for Bahrain over Qatar in the final group match saw them climb to the top of Group A, with both sides progressing to the semi-finals at the expense of favourites Oman by virtue of slightly 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 ...

s. Kuwait and the UAE won their respective semi-final matches to advance to the final of the Western Region group and to the Asia Cup Qualifier. United Arab Emirates went on to win the final by 102 runs.

Group stage

Group A

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Group B

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Play-offs

Semi-final 1

Semi-final 2

Final

2020 ACC Eastern Region T20

The 2020 ACC Eastern Region T20 tournament took place from 29 February to 6 March 2020 in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

, Thailand, and acted as a first qualifying stage for the 2020 Asia Cup. It was the first official men's T20I tournament to be played in Thailand.

were initially due to play in the Eastern Region tournament, but were forced to withdraw due to the

and

were also included in the original schedule, but later withdrew. Hong Kong, Malaysia, Nepal and Singapore all announced their squads for the tournament, with

Aizaz Khan Aizaz Mohammad Khan (born 21 March 1993) is a Hong Kong international cricketer. He debuted for the Hong Kong national side in 2009, and has since played regularly for the team. He is a graduate of Islamic Kasim Tuet Memorial College. Early car ...

, Ahmad Faiz,

Gyanendra Malla Gyanendra Malla ( ne, ज्ञानेन्द्र मल्‍ल; born 16 September 1990) is a Nepalese professional cricketer and the former captain of the Nepal national Team. He is a right-handed batsman and an occasional wicket-keepe ...

and Amjad Mahboob as their respective captains. The opening day of the tournament saw the hosts beaten by Singapore, followed by a surprise defeat for the much-fancied Nepal against Malaysia, who came into the event on the back of a 5–0 series whitewash against Hong Kong. Nepal were beaten again on day two, this time by Hong Kong, and Thailand also suffered a second defeat with Malaysia taking a second victory. Singapore thrashed the in-form Malaysians by 128 runs on day three thanks to an unbeaten 92 from just 32 balls for

Tim David Timothy Hays David (born 16 March 1996) is a Singapore born Australian cricketer. He played for the Singapore national cricket team between 2019 and 2020, before switching allegiance to Australia in 2022. He was part of the Australian team's sq ...

, and they were joined by Hong Kong on a record of two wins from two matches after their comfortable victory over Thailand. After the penultimate round of matches, Nepal were eliminated despite

Sandeep Lamichhane Sandeep Lamichhane ( ne, सन्दीप लामिछाने, ; born 2 August 2000) is a Nepalese cricketer who captained the Nepalese national team, A right-arm leg spin bowler, Lamichhane has played for Twenty20 franchise sides acro ...

bowling a world record 22

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deliveries in their victory over Thailand, due to Singapore's 16-run win over Hong Kong. The result also secured Singapore's qualification, and meant that the game between Hong Kong and Malaysia on the final day would determine the remaining place in the Asia Cup Qualifier. Singapore won the tournament unbeaten with seven points, after their last fixture against Nepal was abandoned due to rain. Hong Kong's victory over Malaysia in the last match of the tournament secured their qualification. Singapore's

was named player of the tournament, while compatriot Sidhant Singh and Hong Kong's

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 Emergi ...

won the batting and bowling awards, respectively.

Round-robin

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2022 Asia Cup Qualifier

The four-team Asia Cup Qualifier was originally scheduled to take place in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

in August 2020. The qualifier was held in Oman in August 2022, immediately before the

Asia Cup The Asian Cricket Council Asia Cup is a men's One Day International and Twenty20 International cricket tournament. It was established in 1983 when the Asian Cricket Council was founded as a measure to promote goodwill between Asian countrie ...

. Kuwait and the UAE reached the final of the Western Region group, and as a result, also advanced to the Asia Cup Qualifier. Singapore and Hong Kong finished as the top two teams in the Eastern Region group, joining Kuwait and the UAE in the Asia Cup Qualifier. However, in July 2020, the Asia Cup was postponed to June 2021 due to the

. The

was again postponed to August and September 2022, with the qualifier started on 20 August 2022. Originally scheduled to take place in Sri Lanka, both the Qualifier and the Asia Cup were moved to Oman and the UAE respectively due to the economic and political crisis in Sri Lanka. Hong Kong qualified for the main event after a first-place finish in the qualifier.

Squads

Round-robin

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References

External links

Series home at ESPN Cricinfo (Western Region T20)

Series home at ESPN Cricinfo (Eastern Region T20)

Series home at ESPN Cricinfo (Asia Cup Qualifier)
{{International cricket in 2022 Associate international cricket competitions in 2019–20 Associate international cricket competitions in 2022 Asia Cup Qualifier Asia Cup Qualification