By M. Shamil Amit

(Daily Mirror) - The ACC Men’s Under-19 Asia Cup conducted by the Asian Cricket Council and hosted by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is scheduled to be held from December 8 to 17 with the participation of eight teams.

The tournament which is slated to get underway on December 8 with the clash between defending champions India Under-19 and Afghanistan Under-19 will see the eight teams playing three matches each and Sri Lanka Under-19, who are the runners-up will confront newcomers Japan in the first match on December 9.

The eight teams are divided into two groups of four teams each with the defending champions India Under-19, Nepal Under-19, Afghanistan Under-19 and Pakistan Under-19 in Group ‘A’ while the teams in Group ‘B’ are Sri Lanka Under-19, Bangladesh Under-19, Japan Under-19 and the hosts UAE Under-19 with two matches scheduled to be played each day.

The matches are scheduled to be played in three venues in Dubai namely ICC Academy Oval-1, ICC Academy Oval-2 and the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

In the previous tournament played in 2021, the defending champions India Under-19 coasted to a convincing nine-wicket win over Sri Lanka Under-19 in the final played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

The schedule:

• December 8 – India Under-19 v Afghanistan Under-19 at ICC Academy Oval-1 and Pakistan Under-19 v Nepal Under-19 at ICC Academy Oval-2.
• December 9 – Bangladesh Under-19 v UAE Under-19 at ICC Academy Oval-1 and Sri Lanka Under-19 v Japan Under-19 at ICC Academy Oval-2.
• December 10 – India Under-19 v Pakistan Under-19 at ICC Academy Oval-1 and Afghanistan Under-19 v Nepal Under-19 at ICC Academy Oval-2.
• December 11 – Sri Lanka Under-19 v UAE Under-19 at ICC Academy Oval-1 and Bangladesh Under-19 v Japan Under-19 at ICC Academy Oval-2.
• December 12 – Pakistan Under-19 v Afghanistan Under-19 at ICC Academy Oval-1 and India Under-19 v Nepal Under-19 at ICC Academy Oval-2.
• December 13 – Bangladesh Under-19 v Sri Lanka Under-19 at ICC Academy Oval-1 and UAE Under-19 v Japan Under-19 at ICC Academy Oval-2.
• December 15 – First semi-final at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Second Semi-final at ICC Academy Oval-1.
• December 17 – Final at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.