Biggest hitters to watch out for in each Asia Cup 2023 team ft. Hardik Pandya
Asia Cup 2023 starts with a clash between Pakistan and Nepal in Multan on Wednesday, August 30. Traditional powerhouses India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, alongside emerging giants Afghanistan, will contest for the honors with the final scheduled for September 17.
With the tournament being seen as a preparation for the upcoming World Cup, every aspect of the teams, from death over bowling to powerplay partnerships would be under the scanner of analysis and opinions.
In this piece we are looking at the biggest hitters in each team, batters who have the best strike rate with the criteria of a minimum of 500 balls faced ODIs.
Nepal - Kushal Malla
Kushal Malla has been the 'star boy' of Nepal cricket since he scored a half-century on his ODI debut against the USA to lift his team from 47/4 and lead them to their first-ever home ODI win. He was just 15 then and became the youngest in the history of the format to score a half-century.
Now from 27 ODIs, he has scored 626 including a century and four fifties at a strike rate of 103.30. His best knock of 108 against Oman in April this year came off just 64 balls and included nine fours and ten sixes.
With an effortless swing of the bat, he has hit sixes for fun so far. It would be interesting to see whether or not he can do it against Pakistan and India in the first round of the Asia Cup.
Sri Lanka - Dasun Shanaka
Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka leads the team from the front in terms of batting strike rate. In 61 matches the batting all-rounder has 1150 at a strike rate of 93.80, with two centuries and three half-centuries to his name.
Shanaka, who also bowls handy medium-pace, is stunningly good against fast bowlers at the death overs. He has won his team a lot of matches from positions of weakness recently by taking the game deep and exploding at the end.
He hasn't had a lot of chances to bat because of Sri Lanka's dominance of weaker teams in ODIs recently. However, his last ODI century came against India in January when he came to bat at the score of 136/4 and put up an 88-ball 108 when no other teammate scored even a half-century.
Bangladesh - Afif Hossain Dhrubo
With Litton Das ruled out of the Asia Cup due to illness, Afif Hossain Dhrubo has the best strike rate in Bangladesh's squad for the tournament - 87.50. The left-hander has scored 546 runs in 28 matches.
He bats in the lower order and made a name for himself last year by playing the savior for Bangladesh's struggling T20 top order in 2022. His best ODI score of 93* came when chasing 216 against Afghanistan in 2022, Bangladesh were at 28/5 and he built a brilliant partnership with Mehidy Hasan to seal a four-wicket win.
He's also brilliant against pace and will bring an ability to play innovative scoop and lap shots in the death overs to the Asia Cup.
Afghanistan - Rashid Khan
Rashid Khan is Afghanistan's main man in every department now. Their best bowler and fielder, he also has the best strike rate in the team - 104.69 - among active and non-active players. The next best is Najibullah Zadran at 89.42.
Rashid would bat in the lower order in the 2023 Asia Cup. Watch out for his trademark unorthodox hoicks, which would feel effortless and a bit frustrating if they don't come off but jaws will drop when they do.
Pakistan - Fakhar Zaman
Pakistan's Fakhar Zaman is the only opening batter on this list. The left-hander's strike rate of 93.06 with an average of 47.16 shows just how dangerous he can be if not taken out early.
He'll partner Babar Azam at the top of the order in the 2023 Asia Cup and the skipper's technically-sound game compliments him brilliantly. Babar has the second-best strike rate in the squad: 88.81.
Fakhar has not been in good form, though. He doesn't have a half-century in any of his last 10 competitive matches (both 50-over and 20-over ones) and scored just 59 runs in the three ODIs against Afghanistan.
India - Hardik Pandya is the Men in Blue's best bet for the finishing roll at the 2023 Asia Cup
Batting all-rounder Hardik Pandya has scored 1666 at a strike rate of 112.03 in 77 matches since 2016. The right-hander is only slightly behind his state-mate Yusuf Pathan (113.60) in all-time highest strike rates for India in the format.
Pandya would play a key role for India at the 2023 Asia Cup. Their batting lineup, despite improvements, is still dependent on one of the top-order batters playing a long knock. Pandya would be required to finish the innings strongly with Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur or make sure the team stabilizes after a collapse.
His strike rate, which goes up to 140.38, in the overs 40-50 only shows why India should not experiment with his batting position and use him as the finisher at the Asia Cup.