T20 season in UAE could spring unpleasant surprises on regional heavyweights

It is still 40° Celsius here in the UAE. And it will only get hotter as the top T20 teams in the region prepare for what should be an unforgettable four weeks of cricket.

The Asia Cup is taking place here, after a period of uncertainty over participants - actually, just India. As a prelude to the main T20 competition, the UAE will host a tri-series involving Pakistan and Afghanistan in Sharjah, beginning Friday.

That tournament will serve as an ideal preparation for the Asia Cup – which runs from September 9-28 – which in turn will be a testing ground for teams ahead of the T20 World Cup that takes place in India and Sri Lanka early next year.

Some of the more established teams, however, should not consider the coming four weeks as any sort of warm-up. It is T20 cricket, and a mostly level playing field.

India and Pakistan would normally be seen as the strongest contenders in any Asia Cup. But it won't be as straightforward this time. Afghanistan made it to the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup last year and their players have abundant experience of white-ball cricket in the UAE – a second home for many of their players.

This year, the UAE secured a historic T20 series win over Bangladesh in Sharjah. Bangladesh, in turn, defeated Pakistan in a T20 series at home.

India won the Champions Trophy in Dubai earlier this year but are currently coming to grips with the apparent forced ouster of veterans like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma from all formats, and the unconvincing promotion of Shubman Gill in the T20 set-up at the expense of proven performers.

Pakistan, meanwhile, are still languishing eighth in the ICC rankings and have decided to move on from Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, two stalwarts whose runs were deemed not impactful enough by modern standards.

Both regional heavyweights should expect rough weather over the coming weeks.

Afghanistan are one of the more dangerous white-ball sides across conditions and become particularly lethal on Asian surfaces. They have picked as many as four top-quality wrist and mystery spinners – captain Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmed, Mujeeb ur Rahman and AM Ghazanfar.

Good luck trying to score in the 12 overs, at least, of spin from them on UAE pitches; since 2024, the Emirates has the fourth-lowest scoring rate in T20 matches across all regions.

Then there is Bangladesh, who lost to UAE but defeated Pakistan at home in T20s this year. The Tigers also defeated Sri Lanka in July. Bangladesh have arguably one of the more balanced sides across formats among Asian teams, with a particularly robust seam bowling attack.

That might not exactly be what works in the UAE this time, but pitches that help spinners also tend to aid quicks who know how to use variations.

Pakistan will get enough time to get used to the conditions by the time the Asia Cup begins. And while their batting might not give opposition sleepless nights, they have some dangerous spinners in Sufiyan Muqeem and Abrar Ahmed.

And finally, India, the No 1-ranked T20 team in the world. There is so much IPL talent to choose from, India could realistically select a completely different playing XI and still be very competitive.

But the fact is the team have not played a T20I since February. Even those who were active across formats have not played for a month since the conclusion of the five-Test England tour.

The absence of quality competitive cricket could hurt India, at least in the beginning of the Asia Cup.

Also, India's batting can get stuck against sustained and quality spin, which will be put to the ultimate test next month, not only by Pakistan but also Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, depending on who qualifies from the second group for the Super Four stage.

UAE, too, have momentum and will look to take the fight to India and Pakistan in their group; you never know what can happen if the conditions fall in your favour in a 20-over game.

More than anything, the next four weeks will show how flat the T20 world truly is, where many teams are on a similar level and where it does not take a lot for fortunes to change.