Asia Cup 2022 Predictions - Who will Win the Tournament

In just a few days’ time, the largest non-ICC cricket tournament begins—this year’s Asia Cup.

Featuring six teams from Asia, the 2022 version of the Asia Cup will be played in T20 style, something the tournament has done only once before. With the T20 World Cup 2022 bearing down on the cricket world, the Asia Cup 2022 is being marked as a major preparation time for all sides involved.

Though the silverware in mid-November is really what every team will be eyeing up, this is still expected to be a hotly contested tournament.

We take a look at each team’s chances of winning the Asia Cup 2022, and give our verdict on who we think is going to take home the trophy in a little under three weeks’ time.

The Favourite: India

Straight off the bat, India are the hot favourites to win the Asia Cup 2022.

As the No.1 ranked team in T20I cricket, this tournament is India’s to lose. They head into next week on a strong run of form, having played close to 20 T20Is already this year, only losing four matches. Their most recent series was a 4-1 away win over the West Indies, where they looked in great touch.

Overall, India head into the Asia Cup 2022 with a healthy squad, having had the luxury of trying out dozens of players this year across their many fixtures. The competition for spots has meant that quality players missed out on making the 15-man squad traveling to the UAE, and more will miss out on the playing XI.

India are particularly strong in the batting department, with quality top order batsmen like KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav, fiery middle-order options in Rishab Pant, Deepak Hooda and Dinesh Karthik, as well as fantastic all-rounders such as Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin. Perhaps India’s only weakness is in the pace bowling department, with Jasprit Bumrah out of the tournament injured. If Bhuvneshwar Kumar doesn’t fire, India’s batting line up may be called to chase some big totals.

India lead the odds for the Asia Cup 2022, paying 1.57 or -175 at the bookies.

The Challenger: Pakistan

Nipping at India’s heels are rivals Pakistan, who are second favourite to win the Asia Cup 2022.

With two of T20’s best three batsmen opening the batting, in the form of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, Pakistan also boast a formidable batting line up. Add in firecrackers such as Fakhar Zaman and Iftikhar Ahmed, and the men in green have the ability to chase down big scores, and post scary totals.

Similar to India, however, Pakistan are also missing their strike fast bowler. Shaheen Afridi was recently ruled out of the tournament with a knee injury, being replaced by Mohammad Hasnain. This has significantly weakened Pakistan’s bowling attack, and Hasnain will have to step up to the plate and play the tournament of his life if his side are to have any chance of coming away with the title.

However, Pakistan’s fiery batting line up alone are enough to pose a threat in the Asia Cup 2022, and their spinners could be tough to handle on the slow UAE pitches.

Pakistan come in second at the bookmakers, with odds of 4.33 or +333.

The Rest of the Pack: Sri Lanka and Bangladesh

Pakistan and India stand well above the other four teams in terms of their chances of winning the tournament.

However, if the favourites somehow manage to slip up, it’s likely to be one of Bangladesh or Sri Lanka who will pounce and run home with the Asia Cup 2022 trophy.

Sri Lanka were due to host the tournament, but civil unrest in the country meant they are hosts only in name, with the tournament being played in the UAE. Despite their issues at home, Sri Lanka have been showing strong form in other formats of cricket, drawing their last two Test series against Pakistan and Australia, and winning an ODI series against Australia. They will be hoping to channel that form into the shortest format of the game, counting on the likes of Pathum Nissanka and Wanindu Hasaranga to stand up in the big moments.

Bangladesh on the other hand, have struggled of late. Their most recent white ball results have been two lost series to Zimbabwe, the 11th ranked team in the world. The Bangladeshis will be hoping for Shakib Al Hasan, the No.2 ranked T20 all-rounder in the world, to play a sublime tournament and lead them to the heights they reached in the last Asia Cup, reaching the final in 2018.

While there’s an outside chance either Sri Lanka or Bangladesh could pull something out of the bag and win the Asia Cup 2022, with the teams ranked 8th and 9th in the world respectively, it’s unlikely.

Bookmakers have Sri Lanka at 9.00 or +800 to win, while Bangladesh are on 12.00 or +1100.

The Long Shots: Afghanistan and Hong Kong

Everyone loves an underdog story—and if either Afghanistan or the qualifying team i.e Hong Kong wins this year’s Asia Cup, it will certainly be one for the ages.

At 10th in the world, Afghanistan certainly have the ability to spoil someone’s party this tournament. Whether they have the ability to go all the way and win the Asia Cup 2022, however, is something that remains to be seen—it would require unprecedented consistency from the up and coming side. In saying that, they have just done what Bangladesh were unable to, beating Zimbabwe in a T20 series. Most recently, however, they lost 3-2 to Ireland, meaning they head into the Asia Cup 2022 with the taste of defeat in their mouths. Key for Afghanistan will be Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan, two world class players that can take on the giants Afghanistan face.

The sixth team competing in the Asia Cup is yet to be decided, with the qualifying tournament finishing later this evening. Chances are it will be the UAE however, who will play in front of their home crowd. While the Hong Kong will be playing with nothing to lose, and may well cause an upset in one of their group matches, don’t expect them to come anywhere close to threatening for the title in the Asia Cup 2022. If they do, it will be some miracle.

Though everyone would love to see it, the reality of either Afghanistan or Hong Kong making it deep in the Asia Cup 2022 is slim. Bookmakers have Afghanistan at 13.00 or +1200, and the qualifier a whopping 101.00, or +10,000.

Here’s Who Will Win the Asia Cup 2022

It’s hard to argue against the bookies’ odds here, and we think India will walk away the victors this year.

There’s every chance that Pakistan will give them a run for their money and beat them once or twice, but with the format of the tournament, we still think India will come out on top overall. At the end of the day, they’re playing such confident cricket, have such a deep batting line up, and are ever so slightly stronger in the bowling department than their closest rivals, Pakistan.

Prediction: The Asia Cup 2022 winner will be India