Youngsters who impressed in Asia Cup 2018

What a dramatic final it was! There is always something when it comes to India vs Bangladesh, we saw a last-ball finish in the Nidahas Trophy and a last-ball finish yesterday too. This Asia Cup was the most competitive one with four teams (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afganistan) all had the potential to beat any side on the given day.

The Asia Cup showed how good Afganistan are as a team. On the other hand, Bangladesh desires a lot of credit, after losing the second league game against Afganistan and even after losing their key players in Tamim Iqbal and Shakib-al-Hasan, they bounced back well and managed to reach the finals and almost surprised India in the finals.

Eventually, it happened to be India who lifted the Asia Cup for the seventh time. There were many youngsters who performed really well and impressed everyone.

---

6 Khaleel Ahmed:

India's Khaleel Ahmed is one of the youngsters who impressed everyone. The 20-year old earned his maiden national side call and made his debut against Hong Kong. His ability to bowl at 140+ and his variations especially the slower ones were lethal. Hong Kong was cruising at 174 for no loss chasing 286 and Khaleel was brought into the attack and he trapped Nizakat Khan LBW. He ended the game with the figures of 3/48 in his ten overs.

He played just two games in this Asia cup the second was against Afghanistan and he picked up Mohammad Nabi's wicket with a slower ball which deceived him. He had a pretty good Asia cup. He ended Asia Cup with 4 wickets in 2 matches at an average of 23.25 and at an economy of 4.65

5 Mehidy Hasan:

Mehidy Hasan, the 20-year old from Bangladesh, has been the greatest find for them this Asia cup. He is a useful lower-order batsmen and was promoted to open the batting in the final and that worked as he, along with Liton Das, had a 120-run opening partnership. He has scored 110 runs in this Asia Cup.

He opens the bowling in the powerplay and keeps things tight as he does not give room to the batsmen, one of the reasons why he had an economy of 3.56 in this Asia cup, something that is excellent for a spinner who bowls in the powerplay. He had picked up 4 wickets in the tournament.

4 Imam-ul-Haq:

There had always been questions about Pakistan's top order. The introduction Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam had solved Pakistan's top order issue. Imam, the 22-year-old, had a superb Asia cup scoring 225 runs at an average of 56.25.

The 80 that he scored against Afghanistan and the 83 against Bangladesh were his excellent knocks, but unfortunately his 83 was not enough to take his side to the finals while the 80 against the Afghans helped Pakistan chase down 258. He is not a powerful modern day batsman rather is a classic batsman, who purely depends on his timing than brutal power.

The only area where he has work-on is his strike rate, he had a strike rate of 73.77 if he can improve his strike rate to around 85, then he will definitely be one of the best-limited overs batsmen.

3 Hashmatullah Shahidi:

There has always been a spotlight on Afghanistan's batting especially knowing the fact that they have a good solid bowling attack. Shahidi, the 23-year-old, along with Shahzad took Afghanistan to good totals in the tournament.

Shahidi happened to be the fifth highest run scorer of the Asia Cup 2018. His 97* and 71 against Pakistan and Bangladesh respectively were his best knocks but unfortunately, Afghanistan ended up on the losing side in both games.

Shahidi had scored three fifties in the tournament. Shahidi, like Imam, has a low strik- rate of 72.25 and that's the only area where he has to improve.

2 Mujeeb ur Rahman:

Mujeeb, the 17-year-old sensation from Afghanistan, has had a great Asia cup 2018. Mujeeb opens the bowling for Afghanistan. With the variation that he possess and at the pace at which he bowls, it is very difficult to play him.

Mujeeb is a mystery bowler as he bowls the googly, he slides one in, he bowls the off-break and so on. He has all kinds of variations, if not picked by batsmen then it's all over for the batsmen. Mujeeb swings the new ball by just pushing it with the seam upright and that makes the ball to move into the right-handed batsmen.

Mujeeb picked by 7 wickets at an average of 23.57 and had the lowest economy (3.5) among all the other bowlers in the powerplay.

1 Rashid Khan:

Afghanistan superstar Rashid Khan, the twenty-year-old leg-spinner, was the leading wicket-taker of the tournament he picked up 10 wickets at an average of 17.2 and had an economy of 3.72.

In the match against India where he was given the responsibility to defend seven runs off the last over, he gave away only 6 runs and managed to earn a tie for his team. This shows his ability to handle the pressure and deliver at the right moment for his side.

He also made some useful runs batting down the order. In the league game against Bangladesh, he scored an useful 57 off 32 which helped Afghanistan to reach a total of 255 and helped them beat Bangladesh by 136 runs.

Rashid Khan scored 87 runs at an average of 43.50 and he scored these runs at a strike rate of 142.62.