Top 3 Indian players from the Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2018

The Emerging Teams Asia Cup took place from the 6th to the 15th of December, 2018. The tournament featured 8 teams out of which 5 teams were Test playing nations, namely India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and hosts Sri Lanka, Pakistan.

The other 3 teams comprised of the associate nations Oman, Hong Kong, and the United Arab Emirates. The BCCI had earlier refused to send the Indian side to Pakistan for the tournament and thus the Indian games were only played in Sri Lanka.

The Indian team comprised of the following players:

Jayant Yadav (c)

Ankush Bains (wk)

Siddharth Desai

Ruturaj Gaikwad

Himmat Singh

Deepak Hooda

Mayank Markande

Shams Mulani

Prasidh Krishna

Ankit Rajpoot

Nitish Rana

Atit Sheth

Shivam Mavi

Simran Singh

Atharwa Taide

India was placed in Group A which comprised of Oman, Afghanistan and hosts Sri Lanka. India were comfortable in their group games topping their group with 3 consecutive wins to head into the semifinals where they thrashed Pakistan. However, they fell short in the finals as they lost to Sri Lanka by 3 runs. Some of the top performers for the Indian side were as follows:

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#1 Jayant Yadav

Jayant Yadav was the most experienced player in the Emerging India team having played for the senior side in both ODIs and Tests. Yadav, as expected, led the side from the front with his all-around performance. He was the second highest wicket-taker in the tournament only behind his teammate Mayank Markande.

He picked up 7 wickets in 4 games at an average of 20.42 with an economy rate as low as 3.57. Yadav was the pick of the bowlers in the semi-finals against Pakistan where he bowled 2 maiden overs and picked up 2 wickets in his 10 over spell conceding only 29 runs.

Apart from his bowling, he played an important knock of 71 off 85 balls in the finals against Sri Lanka to keep India in the game. He will be looking to continue with this performance in the domestic circuit for a place in the senior side.

#2 Mayank Markande

Mayank Markande

Mayank Markande made a name for himself in the 2018 edition of the IPL. In his debut game for the Mumbai Indians, he took 3 wickets in his 4 over spell conceding just 23 runs. Out of his 3 wickets, he picked the wicket of the former Indian captain MS Dhoni. In his 4 over spell, he bowled 11 dots as well. His performance in the IPL was really good being his first season as he was a regular in the Mumbai Indians side. He picked up 15 wickets in the 14 games he played with an average of 24.53.

After his performance in the IPL, he was awarded a place in the Punjab side for the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy where he picked up 5 wickets in 4 games conceding 7.43 runs an over. He subsequently featured in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and was also drafted in the India B side for the Deodhar Trophy.

Markande emerged as the leading wicket-taker in the Emerging Teams Asia Cup picking 8 wickets in 3 games at an impressive average of 15.75 and an economy rate of 4.24. He also picked up a 4-for in the semi-finals against Pakistan destroying the Pakistani batting line up with figures of 4 for 38.

#3 Himmat Singh

Himmat Singh was picked up by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for the 2019 IPL

The young lad from Delhi has been a regular in the domestic circuit playing all 3 formats of the game for Delhi. He played really well in the Vijay Hazare Trophy where Delhi ended as runners-up. He scored 246 runs at an average of 49.20 and a strike rate of 88.17.

He continued with his good form in the 50 over format of the game as he ended as the second highest run scorer in the tournament and also the highest run-scorer for India in the tournament. He scored 225 runs in 4 matches at an average of 112.5 and fell 10 runs short of being the highest run scorer of the tournament. He scored an unbeaten century in the group game against Sri Lanka scoring 126 runs off 140 balls.

His impressive show in the tournament earned him a place in the Royal Challengers Bangalore side which purchased him for INR 65 lacs in the IPL Auction.