ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will face off debutants Nepal in the opening match of Asia Cup at the Multan Cricket Stadium today, with the Green Shirts on a high following their 3-0 win against Afghanistan last week.
The six-nation Asia Cup — which Pakistan and Sri Lanka are co-hosting after India refused to tour Pakistan over political tensions — will include three other matches in Lahore.
The tournament is a final chance for teams from the region to size each other up before the World Cup in India starting in October.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam has stressed his team is focused on the opening game against Nepal rather than against arch-rivals India.
"Our series against Afghanistan went very well and we played good cricket and dominated," Azam told reporters at a news conference in Multan on Tuesday.
"Pakistan and India matches are always of high intensity and we will try to play the best cricket on that day, but at the moment we are focused on Nepal and will not take them lightly."
India, Pakistan and Nepal are in Group A, while defending champions Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan form Group B.
The top two teams from each group will qualify for the Super Four stages.
Pakistan will fly to Sri Lanka to play India in Pallekele on September 2 before playing a Super Four match in Lahore and then returning to Sri Lanka for the remaining matches.
India will play all their matches in Sri Lanka, where nine matches — including the September 17 final — will be staged.
Pakistan are on a high, having whitewashed Afghanistan 3-0 in Sri Lanka last week to rise to the top of the one-day international rankings.
Nepal qualified for the Asia Cup after winning the Asian Cricket Council Premier Cup in April at home, beating Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
Nepal will be hoping their high-quality spinner Sandeep Lamichhane cause some problems for Pakistan batting which includes world's top-ranked batter Azam, number three Imam-ul-Haq and number five Fakhar Zaman.
Their inexperienced batting will be tested by world's top pace trio of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah.