All you need to know about the men's T20 Asia Cup

Indeed, and that's why we're here. The 17th edition of the Asia Cup starts on September 9 and ends on September 28. The tournament will be played in the UAE, with matches in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. All games start at 6.30pm UAE time, with one double-header day when the two matches start at 4pm and 6.30pm UAE time.

India were the official hosts of the tournament, but because of their strained political relations with Pakistan, neither team plays in the other's country now. If India had hosted the tournament, the matches involving Pakistan would have had to be played at a neutral venue, like India's games were in the UAE when Pakistan hosted the 2025 Champions Trophy. So while the BCCI remains the official host, the matches will be played in the UAE this time.

The first Asia Cup was played in 1984, between India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The tournament is only nine years younger than the ODI World Cup. It was set up as a way of promoting goodwill between the participating countries and then became progressively bigger as more Asian countries developed strong teams. It was initially a stop-and-start presence in the international calendar, but has been played every alternate year since 2008, except for the interruption in 2020 owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

India are the defending champions. Mohammed Siraj ran through Sri Lanka with a six-for in the 2023 Asia Cup final in Colombo and they chased down the target of 51 in just 6.1 overs. It was India's eighth Asia Cup title, making them the most successful team in the tournament. Sri Lanka are the second-most-successful team with six Asia Cup wins.

It began as an ODI tournament, but over the last decade it has switched between the ODI and the T20I formats, depending on whether the upcoming World Cup is an ODI or T20I tournament. The previous Asia Cup in 2023 was an ODI tournament because it was held a few months before the 2023 ODI World Cup. This Asia Cup is a T20I tournament ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka next February.

Not just them. For the first time, there are eight teams in the Asia Cup. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan qualified directly for the tournament, and they are joined by the top three teams - UAE, Oman and Hong Kong - from the 2024 ACC Men's Premier Cup, which is the top-tier tournament for associate countries in Asia.

They came up short in the 2024 ACC Men's Premier Cup. They topped their group but lost to UAE in the semi-finals, and then to Hong Kong in the third-place playoff in a last-over finish. Hong Kong qualified for the Asia Cup and Nepal, despite their rise in recent years, will sit this tournament out.

The eight teams have been split up: India, Oman, Pakistan and UAE are in Group A, while Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka are in Group B, and each team will play the others in their group once. The top two from each group will qualify for the Super Four round, where they will all play each other again. The top two from the Super Four will play the final on September 28 in Dubai.

Yes, but there was some uncertainty around the fixture due to cross-border tensions earlier this year until the Indian government clarified its stance on playing Pakistan recently: India will not play bilateral cricket against Pakistan but will play them in multi-nation events like the Asia Cup and ICC tournaments.

Their group A game is on September 14, Sunday, in Dubai. If both teams qualify for the Super Four stage, they will play each other a second time. And then there's the possibility of an India-Pakistan final too; they have never played an Asia Cup final against each other before, though.

Plenty. Pakistan have a new-look top order, with Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan still out of the side after a period of diminishing returns (and strike rates).

Bangladesh recently beat Sri Lanka in a hard-fought bilateral T20I series.

India have picked a full-strength squad for the first time since winning the 2024 T20 World Cup, but questions remain over the balance of their best XI.

Hong Kong - who take on Afghanistan in the tournament opener - have a new captain, Yasim Murtaza, and a new coach, former Sri Lanka international Kaushal Silva.

Afghanistan are gunning for their first major title after they had their best finish at a global event at the 2024 World Cup, where they got to the semi-finals.

Oman will also be playing their first major tournament since a payment dispute with their board, in the aftermath of the same World Cup.

India vs Pakistan is the biggest fixture, of course, but there has been a lot of needle in games featuring Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka over the years. No one can be certain where the flashpoints of this year's tournament might be.

There is a significant pool of expected debutants and fresh-faced internationals at the Asia Cup. The most high profile among the second lot would be Abhishek Sharma, who already has two T20I centuries and scores at a strike rate of 193.84, but is only 24 and has played just 17 matches for India. This will be his first major tournament since his ascent to being first-choice India opener, and a litmus test too - how will he perform under serious pressure?

Afghanistan's 19-year-old mystery spinner, AM Ghazanfar, has just made his T20I debut after impressing with two five-wicket hauls in 11 ODIs. He is also becoming a regular on the T20 franchise circuit.

Pakistan left-arm quick Salman Mirza is 31 and has made a name for himself recently. After an impressive PSL season with Lahore Qalandars, he debuted in the series against Bangladesh and picked up seven wickets at an economy of 5.21.

UAE captain and opener Muhammad Waseem is by far their best batter and a prominent name in the T20 franchise circuit. He has a strike rate of 155.73 in T20Is* but he will be entering the Asia Cup without much experience in big tournaments. It remains to be seen if he doubles down on his aggressive batting.

Hong Kong's 34-year-old captain Murtaza has played T20Is for three years but will be captaining the side for the first time. A bowling allrounder, he has taken 70 wickets with a tidy economy of 6.33.

Of course. In T20 cricket, even relatively lower-ranked teams have a fair chance of challenging the stronger teams. And, in recent years, the Asia Cup has produced some memorable matches.

In their first appearance at the tournament, Afghanistan beat Sri Lanka by 91 runs in 2014. Four years later, they tied an ODI against India. Hong Kong almost chased down 286 against India after a 174-run opening stand in the 2018 edition. While major shocks have not been too frequent, matches like these prove the quality of cricket has been high and the competition fierce.

Sri Lanka won the last T20I edition of the Asia Cup - played in 2022 - against the odds after facing Pakistan in the final, underlining the close gap between top teams. In short, plenty of excitement awaits with no results guaranteed. And we'll be covering every moment on ESPNcricinfo, so stay tuned.