Asia Cup 2018: 5 best batsmen in the tournament
Asia Cup 2018 ended in an enthralling fashion and Team India successfully defended their title to claim their 7th title in 14 editions. In the modern era where 350+ totals are becoming a norm in the ODI format, not even a single team scored more than 300 in the entire tournament.
On slow and spin-friendly UAE pitches, batting was tough compared to other parts of the world. But few batsmen played out of their skin to seal victories for their teams. Few terrorized the opponent's bowling attacks, some took their team out of troubled waters and many had career-best individual knocks.
Mohammad Shahzad, Shahidi, Ambati Rayudu and few others had a very good tournament but based on match situations and other factors, they didn't make it to my top 5 list.
#5 Mohammad Mithun : Innings - 6 / Runs - 137 / 50s - 2 / Avg. - 22.83
In the tournament opener against Sri Lanka, comeback man Lasith Malinga rattled through Bangladesh's top order and took a couple of wickets in the first over itself. Even Tamim Iqbal got injured and retired hurt. Then came Mithun, who joined hands with M Rahim and stitched a 133-run fourth wicket partnership which helped Bangladesh to commence their tournament on a winning note.
Again against Pakistan in a virtual knockout match, he delivered with a gritty 60 and had a 144-run match-winning partnership with Mushi. Apart from these two innings, he didn't score many runs in the remaining innings but these two knocks are enough to earn him a spot on this list.
#4 Shoaib Malik : Innings - 5 / Runs - 211 / 50s - 2 / Avg. - 70.33
Pakistan's crisis man Shoaib Malik once again played an excellent hand in his team's middle order. He took Pakistan to a last over win against Afghanistan in the super four stage. Even against Bangladesh, when Malik was at the crease, Pakistan were in with a chance. In both the games against India, he rescued his team from bad starts and after his departure, they succumbed under pressure.
--> Malik's 70.33 is the second best batting average in this edition.