UAE stages Asia Cup Twenty20

"The top three teams from this 12-nation tournament will join India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and China for the 2010 Asian Games to be held in Guangzhou, China. This is for the first time that cricket is being played in the Asian Games and China will automatically qualify for the event as host, but the other slots will be decided based on the performance in this tournament," Mazhar Khan, the administrator of the UAE Emirates Cricket Board, told Gulf News.

The UAE has been drawn in Group A along with Afghanistan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia and China. While Group B comprises Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Nepal, Malaysia and Bahrain.

The start of the tournament will also be a special moment for UAE cricket as Al Dhaid Cricket Village will become the nation's fourth first-class cricket venue when Afghanistan take on China at this newly built turf wicket.

The UAE will begin their campaign taking on Singapore at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Experienced allrounder Khurram Khan will lead UAE, which is made up of excellent hard hitters and brilliant allrounders.

Afghanistan and Oman are the joint reigning champions of this tournament. "Each team will play every other team in its group once, and the top two teams from each group will progress to the semifinals. There will be ranking to determine the position of each team and find out the first three teams that will make it to the Asian Games," said Khan.

Breakdown

UAE team: Khurram Khan (Capt) Mohammad Tauqir, Mohammad Iqbal, Zahid Shah, Fahad Al Hashmi, Qasim Zubair, Shoaib Sarwar, Amjad Ali, Amjad Javed, Ahmad Raza, Fayyaz Ahmad,. Naeemuddin Aslam, Malik Shahid, Arfan Hyder.

Today's matches: Shaikh Zayed Cricket Stadium: Oman vs Bahrain, Hong Kong vs Saudi Arabia. Sharjah Cricket Stadium: UAE vs Singapore, Nepal vs Malaysia, Al Dhaid Cricket Village: Afghanistan vs China, Kuwait vs Qatar.

 Timings: first match: 9.30am to 12.30pm, second match: 1.30pm to 4.30pm.