Big boost for Babar Azam ahead of IND vs PAK match in Asia Cup 2022, receives THIS award on Pakistan's Independence Day

File image (Source: Twitter)

Babar Azam's Pakistan cricket team is all set to take on India in their opening clash of the Asia Cup 2022 on August 28, Sunday. This will be the first time the teams cross swords after their last encounter in the 2021 T20 World Cup where India registered a historic loss. Babar Azam was the star of the match along with Shaheen Afridi and M Rizwan. Now ahead of their clash with Men in Blue, the Pakistan cricket team's captain Babar Azam received a major boost as he has been awarded Sitara-e-Pakistan on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the country's independence. Babar is the youngest cricketer in Pakistan to receive the prestigious award. The award is Pakistan's third-highest civilian honour. 

Cravings are getting intense to see this man batting again
JUST 2 DAYS LEFT
EXCITEMENT IS ON PEAK #BABARAZAM #PAKVS NED pic.twitter.com/GzuIiB7aWK

— Mahi (@mahi_cricket56) August 14, 2022

On the other hand, women's team captain Bismah Maroof will receive Tamgah e Imtiaz. Meanwhile, Blind cricketer Masood Jan will receive the Pride of Performance award. It must be noted that the President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi conferred Pakistan civil awards on 253 Pakistani citizens as well as foreign nationals on the occasion of the 75th Diamond Jubilee Anniversary of the country. The citizens were bestowed with awards for showing excellence and courage in different fields. The investiture ceremony of these awards will take place on Pakistan Day, March 23 2023.

Take a look at the squads for Asia Cup 2022 below

Pakistan Squad: Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Asif Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Qadir

Bangladesh's Squad: Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Anamul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Mahmudullah, Mahedi Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman, Nasum Ahmed, Sabbir Rahman, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Ebadot Hossain, Parvez Hossain Emon, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Taskin Ahmed

India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan.

Standby: Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Deepak Chahar

Checkout the live streaming details for the Asia Cup 2022 below:

Where to watch the Asia Cup 2022 in India?

The Asia Cup 2022 has Star Sports as their official broadcaster partner.

Where can I live-stream the Asia Cup 2022 in India?

The Asia Cup 2022 can be live-streamed on the Disney+ Hotstar app and website.

Checkout the schedule for Asia Cup 2022 below

Group A:

India v Pakistan: 28 August, Dubai

India v Qualifier: 31 August, Duabi

Pakistan v Qulaifier: 2 September, Sharjah

Group B:

Sri Lanka v Afghanistan: 27 August, Dubai

Bangladesh v Afghanistan, 30 August, Sharjah

Sri Lanka v Bangladesh, 1 September, Dubai

Super 4:

B1 v B2: 3 September, Sharjah

A1 v A2: 4 September, Dubai

A1 v B1: 6 September, Dubai

A2 v B2: 7 September, Dubai

A1 v B2: 8 September, Dubai

B1 v A2: 9 September, Dubai

Final: 11 September, Dubai