5 cricketers to watch out for in the Asia Cup qualifiers
Oman will be making their Asia Cup debut when they play the Qualifiers starting on Friday (Image Courtesy: ICC)The qualifying leg of Asia’s premier cricketing contest gets underway at Fatullah on Friday. Unlike previous editions, in a bid to provide players with match practice, the 2016 Asia Cup will be a Twenty20 event.While India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and hosts Bangladesh are expected to be the main attractions – some lesser known cricketing teams in the form of Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Hong Kong will go up against each other in a qualifier that precedes the main event. The winner of the qualifier will compete with the Asian giants, come 24 February.We take a look at five cricketers who can set the stage on fire during the qualifying stages of the tournament:
#1 Munis Ansari (Oman)
Like countless others, Munis Ansari too harboured dreams of playing for India someday. This boy from Madhya Pradesh had in fact once dismissed Sachin Tendulkar and Andrew Flintoff in a net session and had drawn the praise of Rahul Dravid. His story, though, didn’t have a happy ending.
Upon failing to make it to Madhya Pradesh’s Ranji team, Ansari shifted his focus to corporate cricket. After plying his trade in the Middle East for a decade or so, he’s back to the subcontinent.
With 12 wickets from seven games, this fast bowler is somewhat responsible for ensuring Oman’s qualification to the ICC World T20 slated to be played in India next month. Considering that Asia Cup precedes the biennial competition, all of Oman will be hoping that Ansari is in red hot form.
If recent matches are anything to go by, Ansari routed the Himachal Pradesh XI with a hat-trick in one of Oman’s warm-up games at Dharamsala this month – troubling all with his slingy bowling action.