4 Players and milestones they can reach in Asia Cup 2018
Asia Cup 2018 has finally got underway. Six teams namely India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Hong Kong are participating in this edition of Asia Cup.
They are divided into two groups where India, Pakistan and Hong Kong are placed in Group A whereas the remaining three team - Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are placed in Group B. All of these 6 teams will have one eye on the trophy.
During this Asia Cup, some players are expected to reach their personal milestones. Let us take a look at a few of them:
Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma, the captain of the Indian team for this Asia Cup is the first name on the list and he has not one but two milestones that he can achieve.
The destructive Indian opening batsman has scored 6,748 runs in 183 ODIs so far. He needs just 252 more runs to become ninth Indian to complete his 7,000 ODI runs.
In 99 matches as an opener, he has 4,781 runs at an impressive average of 54.32 with 16 centuries which include 3 double centuries, with a highest of 264 against Sri Lanka. He needs just 219 runs more runs to complete 5,000 runs as an opener. If he gets there he will be just the fourth Indian opener to achieve that milestone.
Upul Tharanga
Upul Tharanga, the highly talented left-handed batsman has always been a vital part of Sri Lanka’s batting unit. Having made his debut 13 years back in 2005, he is still going pretty strong.
If the Sri Lankans are to clinch the trophy, Tharanga will have to play a major role and score plenty of runs for the team. He is currently on 6,900 ODI runs and needs just 100 runs to become only the 8th Sri Lankan to complete 7,000 runs in ODIs.
Babar Azam
Babar Azam has been simply phenomenal in ODIs ever since his debut. His consistency and ability to adapt to the different situations has certainly helped strengthen Pakistan’s batting of late. He already has 1,973 runs to his name in just 46 ODIs with an average of 54.80 and needs just 27 more runs to reach 2000 ODI runs.
If he scores that in Pakistan's Asia Cup opener against Hong Kong, he will become joint-second fastest to complete 2,000 runs along with Zaheer Abbas (PAK) and Kevin Pietersen (ENG) in 45 innings. South Africa’s Hashim Amla holds the record having got there in just 40 innings.
Mushifiqur Rahim
The pocket-sized dynamo Mushfiqur Rahim has taken the Asia Cup 2018 by storm in the very first match itself courtesy of a magnificent knock of 144 against Sri Lanka. One of Bangladesh's most successful wicket-keeper batsmen is now just 28 runs away from getting to 5,000 ODI runs milestone.
He will become just the third batsman from Bangladesh to achieve this after Tamim Iqbal (6,307 runs) and Shakib Al Hasan (5,433 runs). If Bangladesh progress to super four, he is likely to not just reach this but also inch closer to Shakib.