Pakistan begin Asian Games preparation on Sunday

Pakistan will begin a five-day training camp at Karachi on Sunday as the country's Twenty20 squad prepares for the Asian Games in Japan, where they will enter the men's cricket tournament directly at the quarter-finals stage. The camp at the National Bank Stadium will feature batting, bowling and fielding sessions before the team travels to Japan at its conclusion. Pakistan, who secured a direct quarter-finals spot on the basis of their ranking, will play their first match on September 28. Their opponent will be determined after the preliminary round. Defending champions and top seeds India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are the other teams to receive direct quarter-final berths. Six teams will contest the preliminary round for the remaining four quarter-final places. Afghanistan will face hosts Japan and Hong Kong will meet Malaysia on September 24, while Hong Kong will play Oman and Afghanistan will take on Nepal the following day. Japan will face Nepal and Malaysia will meet Oman on September 26. Pakistan finished fourth at the 2022 Asian Games. After entering the quarter-finals directly, they defeated Hong Kong before losing to Afghanistan by four wickets in the semi-finals. Bangladesh then beat Pakistan by six wickets under the Duckworth-Lewis method in the bronze-medal match. Pakistan will be captained by dashing opener Sahibzada Farhan. The squad also includes Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Akif Javed, Chaudhry Saad Masood, Muaz Sadaqat, Mohammad Wasim, Saim Ayub, Sufiyan Muqeem, Syed Mohammad Abdullah Shad, Usman Khan, Hassan Nawaz, Arafat Manas and Haider Ali. Mike Hesson will serve as head coach, with Ashley Noffke, Mansoor Ahmed and Imranullah as coaches. Usman Hashmi will travel with the team as technical official.