The fourteenth edition of the Asia Cup, which was held in the United Arab Emirates over two weeks, concluded with a thrilling final with India beating Bangladesh by three wickets in a pulsating last-ball finish at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Friday.
Whilst the two traditional powerhouses of Asian cricket—Pakistan and Sri Lanka—failed to live up to expectations, Bangladesh and Afghanistan—two teams that are gradually consolidating their positions in the top echelon of world cricket, albeit only in the shorter formats—played some fantastic cricket in the tournament to win the spectators’ hearts.
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Third‑time participants Hong Kong, too, impressed one and all with their spirited fight against India, which saw their two openers, Nizakat Khan and Anshuman Rath, give the Indian bowlers a hard time as they put up 174 runs for the opening wicket in pursuit of a target of 286. Although lack of enough experience of playing at the highest level hindered Hong Kong from scoring an upset, their fearless approach against India has left for the ICC to mull rewarding them with ODI status.
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Though touted as favourites from the outset to win the tournament, India didn’t have a seamless run enroute the final. Playing without their regular skipper and leading batsman Virat Kohli, the Rohit Sharma-led side survived three scares in the tournament—against Hong Kong in the group stage, Afghanistan in the Super Four stage and Bangladesh in the final. India’s bowling, which has been the side’s stronger suit in recent times, stood out in crunch situations, while the Shikhar Dhawan-Rohit Sharma opening pair continued its dream run in 2018 by scoring the lion’s share of India’s total runs in the tournament. Their middle-order, on the flipside, failed to deliver every time an adverse situation showed up. That said, the defending champions did well to hold their nerves in the final and bag their seventh Asia Cup title—a record in the tournament’s history.
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For the fans of the game it is happiness unparalleled, when after the completion of a particular tournament, they sit down to look at the top individual performances and compile their ‘team of the tournament’ based on those performances. It is with the plain intention of indulging in this fun, yet somewhat tricky exercise that we have picked and are therefore presenting our team of the tournament.
- Rohit Sharma (Captain) (India)
His influential captaincy and enviable consistency with the bat are two of the foremost reasons why India emerged triumphant in the tournament. With Virat Kohli having been rested, the onus fell on Rohit’s shoulders to lead the side and defend the title in conditions where none of the players barring M.S Dhoni had had any former experience of playing.
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With his controlled aggression and unruffled disposition, the thirty-one-year-old had a calming influence on all his players—particularly the bowlers—which garnered immense praise from stalwarts like Sunil Gavaskar and Sourav Ganguly. With 317 runs from five games, including a hundred and two fifties to his name, Rohit finished second on the list of the highest run-getters of the tournament.
- Shikhar Dhawan
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Cometh a multi-nation tournament, cometh Shikhar Dhawan! Whilst his place in the Indian Test team is no longer secure after his underwhelming display in the Test series against England, his tally of 342 runs from five matches—the highest—in this edition of the Asia Cup bears testimony to his indispensability in the limited-overs set-up.
- Ambati Rayudu (India)
Ambati Rayudu’s stop-start international career might get some stability after a two-year hiatus now that he has had a reasonably good Asia Cup. His competence in reading the match situation and modifying his batting approach accordingly do well to recommend him for the number four slot in the Indian ODI batting line-up, a slot which is still open to experiments and has a host of other candidates vying for it. If only does he manage to convert his fifties into bigger scores on a more regular basis, would he stand a better chance of cementing his place in the team.
- Hashmatullah Shahidi (Afghanistan)
Little known prior to the start of the Asia Cup, the twenty-three-year-old left-hander from Logar emerged as Afghanistan’s batting mainstay in the tournament by scoring fifties in three of the five games that he played. Although his runs came at a relatively low strike-rate of 72.25 by contemporary standards, his solidity and bridled temperament at the crease certainly bode well for the future of Afghanistan cricket.
- Shoaib Malik (Pakistan)
Despite his team’s lukewarm display in the tournament, Shoaib Malik merits selection in this team because of his individual performance, which saved Pakistan many a blush over the course of their five matches. An aggregate of 211 runs from five games at an average of 70.33 makes him the ideal choice for the number five batting slot in this side.
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It is idle to speculate what the result of the Super Four tie between Pakistan and Afghanistan would have been had Malik not been there at the crease in the last few overs and banked on his wealth of experience to make an unbeaten 51 and rescue his team from the jaws of an imminent defeat.
- Mushfiqur Rahim (Bangladesh) (wicket-keeper)
The Asia Cup 2018 proved to be an epiphany for Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim, who hitherto, had been an object of much derision among Indian cricket fans owing to his unsportsmanlike conduct in many of the bygone matches. This time though, it was a different Mushfiqur who turned out in Bangladeshi colours; whose career-best 144 against Sri Lanka in the tournament opener boosted the morale of the side and helped generate a momentum which they carried forward till the last ball of the tournament. The most priceless innings for him, as well as for his team, came in the Super Four game against Pakistan (a virtual knockout), where his 116-ball 99 enabled Bangladesh to post a competitive total of 239 which they eventually succeeded in defending.
- Ravindra Jadeja (India)
Coming back into the Indian ODI team after more than a year (442 days to be precise), Ravindra Jadeja—who was roped in to replace the injured Axar Patel for the Super Four stage of the tournament—made an immediate impact in the game against Bangladesh with a match-winning bowling display of 4/29. In the final against Bangladesh, although he went wicket-less in his six overs, produced a brilliant effort in the field to run Mohammad out and later on, made a vital 33-ball 23 and forged a 45-run partnership with Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the seventh wicket which brought the target off 223 within India’s reach after a middle-order collapse. Having hitherto fallen out of favour due to the team management’s preference for wrist-spinners in ODI cricket, the Rajkot all-rounder’s telling contribution behind India’s Asia Cup triumph will stand him in good stead for a berth in the squad for next year’s World Cup.
- Rashid Khan (Afghanistan)
It’s not long before epithets would seem scarce to aptly describe the influence that this player has had in changing the public opinion about Afghanistan cricket. It’s amazing to see with what consistency he churns out match-winning performances for Afghanistan one match after the other, one season after the other with utmost nonchalance!
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This Asia Cup saw him succeed not just with the ball, but also brought to the fore his all-round proficiency, for he not only topped the bowling charts of the tournament, but also scored 87 runs at an average of 43.5, including an explosive 32-ball 57 against Bangladesh, which provided the most befitting celebration for his twentieth birthday. Even though Afghanistan couldn’t eventually make the final, Rashid’s imperious exhibition of all-round cricket will be enshrined in the memories of fans for a long time to come.
- Kuldeep Yadav (India)
With every passing tournament, this young chinaman bowler appears to be growing in confidence. The slow and low pitches of Dubai—where India played all their matches—were tailor-made to suit Kuldeep’s variety and guile, and he made most of the conditions on offer by picking up ten scalps in six matches at 23.7 runs per wicket. It was his parsimonious bowling in the middle overs against Bangladesh in the final that slowed down the run-rate of the Bangldeshi innings and brought India back into the contest.
- Jasprit Bumrah (India)
The numero-uno bowler in the ICC ODI rankings, Jasprit Bumrah—after impressing one and all in the latter half of the Test series against England—once again reaffirmed why he is such a potent match-winner for India in the shorter formats. He made only four appearances in the tournament (including the final), but didn’t go wicket-less in any of those games. His unfailing consistency in earning his team early breakthroughs, coupled with his imposing death-bowling record make him one of the most formidable bowlers in world cricket at the moment.
- Mustafizur Rahman (Bangladesh)
Having got off to a soaring start in international cricket, Mustafizur Rahman’s career was faced with the danger of fizzling out owing to his vulnerability to injuries. Thankfully, to the relief of the Bangladesh supporters, the left-arm seamer put up a stellar show in the Asia Cup, taking ten scalps in five matches which proved instrumental in guiding Bangladesh to the final.
That his bowling has still not lost its sheen—despite his blow hot, blow cold form over the last twelve months or so—became evident in Bangladesh’s Super Four game against Afghanistan when being called upon by the captain to defend eight runs off the final over, Mustafizur conceded just four to hand his side a close win by just three runs.