Asia Cup 2018: 5 Players to watch out for in the tournament

With the Asia Cup fast approaching, there is plenty at stake for all the teams participating. Each team will want to dish out various combinations and give chance to every player as a bid for preparation to the 2019 world cup.

With the organizers falling back to the 50 over format, let us look at five potential players who can prove to be game changers and be an asset to their team this time.

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#1 Fakhar Zaman

Fakhar Zaman has been in good form

Fakhar Zaman has been in red-hot form for the past few months. He ripped apart the Zimbabwe bowling attack and notched up his country's first double hundred when they toured Zimbabwe.

Even though he may have scored against Zimbabwe that innings was full of style and class. He went past his country's great Saeed Anwar who held the record of the highest ODI score for Pakistan for a long time. He was subsequently adjudged the Man of the Series too.

He broke various records in that series by becoming the fastest to reach 100 runs going past VIV Richard's record. He achieved it in 18 innings. He is surely a player to watch out for as he can give a blistering start to Pakistan at the start along with Imam-ul-Haq.

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#2 KL Rahul

Rahul will want to make a mark this Asia Cup

KL Rahul has found form in the last innings of the India England Test Series. The swashbuckling opener scored a flawless century in the final innings of the series. He has somehow not been able to cement his spot in the ODI side.

He has been tried out at various positions but none has worked so far. The Indian management will be keen to see him perform as he can be a game changer in his day.

Blessed with a solid technique and high backlift, he can tare apart any bowling line-up in the world as we witnessed in the limited overs series in England. He was also in great nick in the IPL.

He can additionally keep wickets too. He is a player to watch out for this Asia Cup and he would want to make a statement to the selectors.

#3 Lasith Malinga

Srilanka would want Malinga to bowl well

The Yorker Specialist hasn't been in great form off late. The injury-plagued 35-year-old has been in and out of the team for a long time now, his last appearance in Colombo against India in 2017.

He has impressed the selector with his performance in the domestic T20 series where he is said to have bowled several Toe Crushing yorkers and slow balls to good effect.

With the 2019 world cup approaching fast this Asia Cup would be the ideal time for him to get back to form.

#4 Tamim Iqbal

Tamim has been in good form in the West Indies tour.

The southpaw from Bangladesh had a successful tour of West Indies down under where he scored two centuries and a fifty to bag the man of the series award.

With an attacking mindset right from the start, he is sure to send chills down to all the bowlers.

In a bid to prepare well for the Asia Cup he has skipped the Eid Celebration at home and arrived for the training early before even the camp has begun.

His main focus was to play the short balls well and to adapt to different conditions. He is now training and receiving various inputs from his team's batting consultant Neil Mckenzie. So how is that for dedication?

#5 Mujeeb-ur-Rahman

Mujeeb will play a key role for Afghanistan

The teenage sensation from Afghanistan has bamboozled everyone with his spin bowling. Having played 11 matches and picking up 14 wickets at an economy of 6.99 Mujeeb has delivered on the big stage.

Having played alongside Ravichandran Ashwin his Idol, he says he has learned a lot from him on how to hold the ball between the fingers and the release. He additionally watches Ajantha Mendis and Sunil Narine's videos from Youtube.

Along with Rashid Khan in the spin department, the batsmen will find it tough handling the spin twins as they could run through any batting line up given the conditions favor them.