Pakistan has named Abdul Samad captain of a 15-member squad for the ACC Men's Rising Stars Asia Cup 2026, to be played in Qatar from November 19 to 29, Sportstar reported on Tuesday. Pakistan goes in as defending champion and is in Group B with India A, Nepal and the United Arab Emirates.
Pakistan opens against the UAE on November 20, then plays India A on November 22 and Nepal on November 24.
Pakistan's squad
Abdul Samad (captain), Ahmed Daniyal, Akif Javed, Danish Aziz, Farhan Yousuf, Haider Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Maaz Sadaqat, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Imran Randhawa, Rohail Nazir (wicketkeeper), Saad Masood, Shahzaib Khan, Shamyl Hussain and Sufyan Moqim.
India A's side
The BCCI named India A's 15-member squad on Monday, with Tilak Varma as captain and Rajat Patidar as vice-captain, India TV reported. The batting includes Abhishek Sharma and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, and Harshit Rana returns after injury.
India A squad: Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Prabhsimran Singh (wicketkeeper), Tilak Varma (captain), Rajat Patidar (vice-captain), Rinku Singh, Kumar Kushagra (wicketkeeper), Suryansh Shedge, Shahbaz Ahmed, Vipraj Nigam, Harsh Dubey, Tanush Kotian, Harshit Rana, Prince Yadav and Arshad Khan.
India A plays Nepal on November 20, Pakistan on November 22 and the UAE on November 24, India TV reported. The tournament is a 50-over event, and the top two teams from each group go through to the knockouts.
Pakistan's record in the event
Pakistan won the last 50-over edition, in Sri Lanka in 2023, beating India A by 128 runs, Sportstar reported. It also won the previous edition, played as a T20 event, beating Bangladesh A in a final decided by a super over. Pakistan finished runner-up in 2013 and 2017 and won in 2019.
Group A has Afghanistan A, Bangladesh A, Hong Kong China and Sri Lanka A.