5 Players to look out for in the Asia Cup 2018

The Asia Cup 2018 has already begun with an unsympathetic Bangladesh claiming a mighty victory over the Sri Lankans, yesterday in Dubai.

Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat first, following which they put on a total of 261 and were bowled out in 49.3 overs. Star Batsman Mushfiqur Rahim posted 144 runs on the board. The Sri Lankan batting order collapsed with the highest individual Sri Lankan score being 29 by Dilruwan Perera who is a lower order batsman. They were eventually bowled out for just 124 runs after a brilliant bowling performance by captain Mortaza and pacer Mustafizur Rahman. Banglaesh won by 137 runs.

But, for the Worldwide Cricket fans, the Asia Cup really begins on September 19 when India face their oldest arch enemies Pakistan. While all the Asian nations try to topple the most victorious team in the history of Asia Cup - India, let's look at our top 5 players to look out for in the series!

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#5 Mustafizur Rahman (Bangladesh)

Mustafizur Rahman against Australia

The 23 year old left arm pacer from Sathkira, Bangladesh has been a history maker in his short career till date. He is only the second bowler after Brian Vitori (Zimbabwe) to bag 5 wicket hauls in their first two matches.

Rahman is currently speaheading the Bangladesh bowling attack, and is the wild card held by experienced captain Mashrafe Mortaza. The unique thing about Mustafizur being given a pick in the top 5 players to watch out for in the Asia Cup list, is the fact that the lad has been a consistent performer against the Asian sides - Sri Lanka and India - who are one of the favourites to win the Asia Cup this year.

Mustafizur Rahman also plays for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL since the 2018 season, and was picked by the owners for potential growth due to his young age, and already consistent performances at the International stage

#4 Niroshan Dickwella (Sri Lanka)

Dickwella against Pakistan

He is a Sri Lankan. He is a left handed batsman. He is a wicket-keeper. And he bats high up the order for Sri Lanka. Remember any familiar Sri Lankan player with these similar characteristics?

Dickwella was lauded as the heir to legendary Sri Lankan former captain Kumar Sangakkara. And the prospect he displays in every passing game, doesn't really discard the argument about him replacing Sanga successfully.

Still a lot to prove for the Lankans, with just 1232 runs in 41 ODIs so far, he will be counting on this year's Asia Cup to be the stage where he announces his arrival to the big stage of Keeper-Batsmen, which already consists of former legends like Kumar Sangakkara, MS Dhoni, AB De Villiers, Mark Boucher etc.

After being rested for the game against Bangladesh yesterday, which the Lankans lost brutally, Dickwella will be aching to perform when he gets a nod in the next match.

#3 Rashid Khan (Afghanistan)

Rashid Khan for Sussex

With a whopping 108 wickets in 46 ODIs for Afghanistan, the latest bowling sensation in the cricketing world, Afghanistan, looks to carry his Sunrisers Hyderabad and Sussex form into the Asia Cup.

Not just with the ball, Khan can also do wonders with the bat, and also in difficult situations when the team needs someone to count upon. The Afghan has taken the Indian Premier League by storm since last couple of seasons, and he is surely going to cause some problems to the mightier Asian nations by his bowling.

Thanks to Rashid Khan, Afghanistan has better odds in the Asia Cup 2018 than what they might have, without him.

He is placed at number 3 on our list of Asia Cup players to watch for.

#2 Rohit Sharma (India)

Rohit Sharma against England

After being rested for India's recent heavyweight test series against England, Rohit Sharma will be looking to cement his position as India's opener for One Day Internationals.

As Virat Kohli is rested after the England tour and before the Australia tour in December, Sharma will be leading the Indian team. Also, previous statistics prove that in absence of Kohli, whenever Sharma has taken the lead of the team, his batting has overwhelmingly fantastic for India, the most recent being his double century against Sri Lanka at Mohali.

Rohit Sharma will be looking at the Asia Cup as a pre-tournament going into next year's World Cup in England and it's high time that the Indian batting top order gets back on track if they are to stand a chance to win the World Cup next year. Rohit Sharma takes the 2nd spot on our list.

#1 Babar Azam (Pakistan)

Babar Azam against New Zealand

As Virat Kohli is rested for the Asia Cup, Babar Azam becomes the highest rated ODI batsman to play in the tournament, and rightly so, as he looks to improve on his mind boggling average of 54.81 in ODIs.

The Pakistan team has been on a roller coaster for the last one year after successful performances against Australia, Zimbabwe and New Zealand, where they proved out to be totally destructive for the opposition. Babar Azam and his brilliant batting partnership with fellow Pakistani Fakhar Zaman have been terrorizing oppositions for quite some time now.

Babar Azam is ranked by ICC as the 2nd best ODI bastman in the world currently, and that makes him our first choice in the list of Asia Cup 2018 players to watch out for.

Azam plays his first Asia cup game today, 16th of September in Dubai, against Hong Kong.