Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan says his team have no “specific targets” in the Asia Cup despite producing groundbreaking performances in recent ICC global events.
Afghanistan reached the semi-finals of last year’s T20 World Cup in the United States and the Caribbean, and narrowly missed out on reaching the last four at the Champions Trophy in Pakistan earlier in 2025.
Those performances followed an impressive showing at the 2023 ODI World Cup, when the Afghans produced statement wins over England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
“We do not have specific targets, and we do not want to put extra pressure on our players,” Rashid said when asked if Afghanistan are targeting the Asia Cup title.
“Our target is to play the brand of cricket we have played over the years.
“For us the main target is to put in 200 per cent effort on the ground.
“I think we have been doing well in the ICC events and although we haven’t played T20I cricket over the last few months, the guys have been playing in T20 leagues around the world and that has helped.”
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The Asia Cup gets underway on September 9, as teams ramp up their preparations for the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.
Contrary to Afghanistan, Pakistan’s fortunes are dipping after they crashed out of the last T20 World Cup in the group stage before failing to win a match at the Champions Trophy.
This year they lost a T20 series in Bangladesh 2-1 but overcame the West Indies by the same margin.
Under new captain Salman Agha, Pakistan are going through a transition with former skippers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan out of the T20 squad.
“We are trying to build a team and this tri-series and then the Asia Cup will be a good opportunity to achieve that,” said Agha.
“We know both these events will be challenging but we are ready.”
Besides Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Asia Cup will also include defending champions India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Oman and Hong Kong.
Afghanistan’s captain Rashid Khan. Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFPSource: AFP
HOW TO WATCH
For cricket fans in Australia, all 19 matches of the 2025 Asia Cup will be shown live and ad-break free on Kayo Sports. The tournament will also be available to Foxtel subscribers.
FORMAT
This year’s Asia Cup will be a T20 tournament, helping the nations prepare for next year’s T20 World Cup in the subcontinent.
The eight competing will be split into two groups of four, with the top two teams from each pool progressing to the Super 4 stage.
Each team in the Super 4 plays each other once, with the top two nations qualifying for the final on September 28.
WILL INDIA AND PAKISTAN PLAY?
India and Pakistan are in the same group and will face each other in Dubai on September 14
However, there’s potential for the rivals to play each other on three occasions.
If both nations qualify for the Super 4, they will butt heads again in Dubai on September 21.
They could then face each other again in the final if they both qualify.
FIXTURES
All times local
September 9 — Afghanistan vs Hong Kong in Abu Dhabi, 6.30pm
September 10 — India vs UAE in Dubai, 6.30pm
September 11 — Bangladesh vs Hong Kong in Abu Dhabi, 6.30pm
September 12 — Pakistan vs Oman in Dubai, 6.30pm
September 13 — Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi, 6.30pm
September 14 — India vs Pakistan in Dubai, 6.30pm
September 15 — UAE vs Oman in Abu Dhabi, 4pm
September 15 — Sri Lanka vs Hong Kong in Dubai, 6.30pm
September 16 — Bangladesh vs Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi, 6.30pm
September 17 — Pakistan vs UAE in Dubai, 6.30pm
September 18 — Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi, 6.30pm
September 19 — India vs Oman in Abu Dhabi, 6.30pm
September 20 — Group B Qualifier 1 vs Group B Qualifier 2 in Dubai, 6.30pm
September 21 — Group A Qualifier 1 vs Group A Qualifier 2 in Dubai, 6.30pm
September 23 — Group A Qualifier 1 vs Group B Qualifier 2 in Abu Dhabi, 6.30pm
September 24 — Group B Qualifier 1 vs Group A Qualifier 2 in Dubai, 6.30pm
September 25 — Group A Qualifier 2 vs Group B Qualifier 2 in Dubai, 6.30pm
September 26 — Group A Qualifier 1 vs Group B Qualifier 1 in Dubai, 6.30pm
September 28 — Final in Dubai, 6.30pm
Jasprit Bumrah of India. Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images
SQUADS
India
Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (wk), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh
Pakistan
Salman Ali Agha (c), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Waseem Jr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Afridi, Sufyan Moqim
Sri Lanka
Charith Asalanka (c), Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera, Nuwanidu Fernando, Kamindu Mendis, Kamil Mishara, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dunith Wellalage, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera, Binura Fernando, Nuwan Thushara, Matheesha Pathirana
Afghanistan
Rashid Khan (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Darwish Rasooli, Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Karim Janat, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mohammad Ishaq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Allah Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmad, Farid Malik, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Bangladesh
Litton Das (c), Tanzid Hasan, Parvez Hossain Emon, Saif Hassan, Tawhid Hridoy, Jaker Ali Anik, Shamim Hossain, Quazi Nurul Hasan Sohan, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Shaif Uddin
Oman
Jatinder Singh (Captain), Hammad Mirza, Vinayak Shukla (wk), Sufyan Yousuf (wk), Ashish Odedera, Aamir Kaleem, Mohammad Nadeem, Sufyan Mehmood, Aryan Bisht, Karan Sonavale, Zikriya Islam, Hassnain Ali Shah, Faisal Shah, Mohammad Imran, Nadeem Khan, Shakeel Ahmad, Samay Shrivastava.
United Arab Emirates
Muhammad Waseem (capt), Alishan Sharafu, Aryansh Sharma (wk), Asif Khan, Dhruv Parashar, Ethan D’Souza, Haider Ali, Harshit Kaushik, Junaid Siddique, Matiullah Khan, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Zohaib, Rahul Chopra (wk), Rohid Khan, Simranjeet Singh and Saghir Khan
Hong Kong
Yasim Murtaza (c), Babar Hayat, Zeeshan Ali, Niazakat Khan Mohammad, Nasrulla Rana, Martin Coetzee, Anshuman Rath, Kalhan Marc Challu, Ayush Ashish Shukla, Mohammad Aizaz Khan, Ateeq ul Rehman Iqbal, Kinchit Shah, Adil Mehmood, Haroon Mohammad Arshad, Ali Hassan, Shahid Wasif, Ghazanfar Mohammad, Mohammad Waheed, Anas Khan, Ehsan Khan
PREVIOUS WINNERS
1984 — India (ODI)
1986 — Sri Lanka (ODI)
1988 — India (ODI)
1990/91— India (ODI)
1995 — India (ODI)
1997 — Sri Lanka (ODI)
2000 — Pakistan (ODI)
2004 — Sri Lanka (ODI)
2008 — Sri Lanka (ODI)
2010 — India (ODI)
2012 — Pakistan (ODI)
2014 — Sri Lanka (ODI)
2016 — India (T20I)
2018 — India (ODI)
2022 — Sri Lanka (T20I)
2023 — India (ODI)