The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) will be conducting an U19 Asia Cup for the ninth time, in 2021 in the UAE. Two years after its previous edition, the tournament will begin on 23 December 2021 and will be played for just one more than a week, with the Final scheduled on New Year’s eve. Five full member teams - India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan - will be joined by three qualifier teams - Kuwait, Nepal and the UAE.
Table of Contents
- History
- Qualification
- Schedule
- Format
- Venues
- Teams/Groups
History
The first-ever U19 Asia Cup was conducted in 1989 in Bangladesh. The Indian colts won the tournament beating their counterparts from Sri Lanka at the Bangabandhu National Stadium. Since the tournament was a hit, there were seven more editions till 2019. The Indian side has won 6 out of the 8 editions individually while they shared the trophy with Pakistan in 2012.
In the 2017 edition, India U19 was knocked out of the tournament in the group stage and Afghanistan U19 went on to become the only other side to have the trophy without having to share it.
Qualification
Kuwait U19, Nepal U19 and UAE U19 teams have earned a place for themselves in the tournament despite not being full members of the ICC.
Schedule
The defending champions, India U19 will face the hosts in the opening game of the U19 Asia Cup on 23 December 2021 at the ICC Academy Ground in Dubai. Also, Afghanistan and Pakistan will face each other while Bangladesh will face Nepal at the same time. The league stage will go on till 28 December 2021.
The two semi-finals will be played on 30 December 2021 at the ICC Academy Ground in Dubai and the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in Sharjah simultaneously. The winners of both semi-finals will lock horns in the Final on 31 December at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai.
Format
There are two groups of four teams each. Each team plays every other team from its group once in the league stage. At the end of this stage, the top two teams in both groups qualify for the knockout stage. The U19 Asia Cup 2021 tournament has a traditional format for the knockout games consisting of two semi-finals and a Final.
Venues
The tournament will be played at four different venues across Dubai and Sharjah. The ICC Academy Ground, ICC Academy Ground No 2 and the Dubai International Cricket Stadium are based in Dubai while the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, as the name suggests, is based in Sharjah.
Teams/Groups
Group A consists of India, UAE, Afghanistan and Pakistan while Group B consists of Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Kuwait.
