Five of the world’s top 10 Twenty20 teams will compete in the 17th Asia Cup, starting in the United Arab Emirates from Tuesday, with defending champion India grouped together with archrival Pakistan.

Here's what to know:

Competing teams

India is No. 1, and Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh hold Nos. 7-10 in the International Cricket Council's T20 rankings. Joining them in the tournament, which starts with two groups of four, are Hong Kong, UAE and first-timer Oman. All three of the Associate teams qualified via the ACC Premier Cup, where Nepal only narrowly missed out.

India and Pakistan being bracketed together should catch a billion-plus TV audience and raise substantial revenue for the Asian Cricket Council. Oman and UAE are the other teams in that group.

The other

See Full Page