Shawdesh desk:

The 15th edition of the Asia Cup begins today (August 27) with the match between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

The match will begin at 08:00pm (Bangladesh time).

All-rounder Shakib Al Hasan will lead Bangladesh team for this tournament. Bangladesh will begin campaign against Afghanistan on August 30 in Sharjah.

Defending champions India, however, will start their campaign with a match against arch-rivals Pakistan on August 28.

The event will be played in the T20 format, featuring 6 teams divided into two groups at the beginning.

In their respective groups, the teams will be playing each other once. The top two teams from both the groups will then advance to the Super 4s, where all the four teams will be playing once against each other.

The top two teams from the Super 4s will advance to the final that is scheduled to take place on September 11.

The mega event was earlier schedule to take place in Sri Lanka but later was shifted to the United Arab Emirates.

It is learnt that the gulf nation is hosting the event across two venues – Dubai International Cricket Stadium and Sharjah Cricket Stadium.