5 Best Moments from Asia Cup 2018

Asia Cup 2018 has come to an end with a nail-biting thriller between India and Bangladesh that saw India extend their unbeaten run in the competition to 12 games and also claim their second successive Asia Cup title.

It witnessed few surprises and setbacks but overall was an entertaining tournament. It wasn't the typical modern day one-day matches where batsmen scored 300-plus with consummate ease, even the scores of 250-260 gave a scare to many teams. It also witnessed some great moments in the process.

Let us have a look at a few of them. Here are the 5 best moments from Asia Cup 2018.

#5. The Rise of Afghan Cricket

The Asia Cup 2018 will always be remembered for Afghanistan. Even though everyone expected India and Pakistan to be the favourites and Bangladesh as a dark horse, it was Afghanistan that proved to be the surprise package. They had probably the best bowling attack, courtesy the spin trio of Rashid Khan, Mujeeb and Mohammad Nabi. Their batsmen scored 250-plus in every match that proved to be enough for their bowlers to defend it more often than not.

They played with an unbelievable spirit and never gave up in any situations. They were placed in Group B with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Before the start of the tournament, many believed that they would get a stiff competition from the other two teams, but to everyone's surprise, they won their matches quite comfortably and it was largely one-sided.

Even in the Super Four, they threatened to defeat Pakistan, Bangladesh and even India. They played like champions throughout the tournament and rightly deserved to be there in the finals. They proved their mettle to everyone and made the world to look upon them as one of the teams to be reckoned with.

#4. The Sri Lankan Exit

Sri Lankan team had a forgettable Asia Cup 2018

Sri Lankan team is going through a rough patch for a quite a while now. They have been the worst performing team currently in the cricket world recently. No one actually thought that they would pose a threat to any team in this tournament. The five-time Asia Cup champions saw an early and disappointing exit from the tournament.

Their matches against Bangladesh and Afghanistan were quite one-sided with both the teams winning it very comprehensively. They lost to Bangladesh by 137 runs and to Afghanistan by 91 runs. The batsmen were not able to even cross the 200-run total for the team and had a very dismal outing in this Asia Cup.

The bowlers did a decent job with Malinga making a comeback and leading the bowlers but was not supported well by the others. The likes of Matthews and Perera were expected to do well but failed miserably. It had been a nightmare of a tournament for Sri Lanka and would be hoping to turn around their fortunes in the upcoming matches.

#3. Tamim Iqbal batting with fracture

Tamim Iqbal batted single-handed after suffering from wrist fracture

It was the first game of Asia Cup 2018 where we witnessed something unusual. Bangladesh was batting first against Sri Lanka and in the second over of the innings Tamim Iqbal suffered a severe blow on his wrist while attempting a pull shot to Suranga Lakmal's delivery. He was sent off immediately as he was looking in a total discomfort.

The news was out that Tamim is suffering from a wrist fracture and would not bat again in the tournament and will be ruled out post this match. Bangladesh was in a serious trouble as they had lost quick early wickets and also their best batsmen. However, Rahim and Mithun steadied the innings for Bangladesh

The score was 229 for 9 in the 47th over with Rahim still at the crease. In came Tamim Iqbal with his fractured wrist amidst a huge cheer from the audience. He played with his top-hand as he could not use his bottom-hand at all. Rahim took the matters into his own hands and stitched a crucial 31-run partnership with Tamim for the 10th wicket and took the score to 261.

Bangladesh eventually won the game, but it was the lion-hearted Tamim who garnered all the praise for his attitude and commitment towards his team which became a moment to cherish in Bangladesh cricket.

#2. The Hong Kong Scare

Hong Kong gave the biggest scare to team India in the opening game

It was the first match for India against the minnows Hong Kong. Hong Kong had just suffered a crushing defeat against Pakistan and everyone expected it to be another one-sided affair.

India started off well and put up a score of 285 for Hong Kong to chase. India had a formidable bowling line-up, which was expected to do well against a team like Hong Kong. But, Hong Kong had other plans. The openers Anshuman Rath and Nizakat Khan started off well against the Indian bowling attack and gave them a nightmare by stitching a 174-run opening partnership. India, who saw this game as a cakewalk were soon left wondering and Hong Kong was ready to pull off the upset of the decade.

But as soon as India got both the openers back to the pavilion, the inexperienced Hong Kong batting crumbled under pressure like a pack of cards. One after the other, wickets kept on tumbling and eventually India won the match by a margin of 26 runs.

For the major part of the Hong Kong innings, India had their heart in the mouth and a disappointing and disastrous loss was looking very possible. However, it was a good wake-up call for the team as they went to win the rest of their matches comfortably and eventually the title for the 7th time.

#1. The Return of Captain MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni returned to the captaincy against Afghanistan

Arguably the best moment of Asia Cup 2018 was when former Indian captain MS Dhoni captained the side and became only the third player in the world to captain in 200 ODIs after Ricky Ponting and Stephen Fleming.

It was against Afghanistan in the last match of the Super 4 for India. Indian team decided to test its bench strength by resting Rohit, Shikhar, Bhuvi, Bumrah and Chahal. This meant that MS Dhoni was left to captain the side after nearly after two years. Dhoni gave up his captaincy after the home series against New Zealand in 2016 and since then Kohli has been the captain in all the three formats.

Dhoni was stranded on 199 ODIs as captain and by donning the hat one last time against Afghanistan completed 200 ODIs as a captain. The moment was shocking, surprising and even joyful for the Dhoni fans out there who got to see their hero donning the captain's hat once again.