Editorial | Asia Cup Gets Underway 

The Asia Cup has got underway from Wednesday with much fanfare among the Cricket maniac fans in this part of the world. There are six teams in total viz. Nepal, India, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh including primary host Pakistan taking part in this edition. The much touted tournament is being played on a ‘hybrid’ model where Pakistan is sharing its hosting rights with Sri Lanka. The primary host Pakistan has got only four matches and the rest of the matches are being played in Sri Lanka, including the ultimate contest between arch-rivals India and Pakistan scheduled on September 2. The first match between Pakistan and Nepal ended as a one-sided affair as the host trounced the newbie Nepal by 238 runs. The cynosure of the tournament is nevertheless the contest between India and Pakistan, which will set the tone before the expected contest between the two on September 10 – and who knows they may get to play the final as well. The performance of India will be vital in this tournament as it is hosting the 50-over World Cup from October 5, and before the start of the mega event it needs to iron out the chinks in its armour in this tournament only. The silverline as of now for the national side is that Jasprit Bumrah is back and has already shown promise against the recently concluded T20 series with Ireland. Hope the Rohit Sharma led unit gets to a flying start in its first encounter lined up with Pakistan.