All the Asia Cup 2023 participating teams are on the verge of their practice session. In the meantime, the Bangladesh Cricket Board has revealed a list of the all-time best Bangladeshi cricketers in the Asia Cup tournament to date. With this topic of Bangladesh’s all-time Asia Cup ODI XI, we will proceed our article and talk about those players one by one.
All-Time Asia Cup ODI XI of Bangladesh:
Considering the overall performances of most of the cricketers on the Asia Cup stage, here is Bangladesh’s all-time Asia Cup ODI XI.
Tamim Iqbal
Tamim made six half-centuries and went past 20 five more times in thirteen innings at the stage of the Asia Cup. His most remarkable Asia Cup innings was a two-not-out in 2018 when he arrived with a broken hand to help Mushfiqur Rahim, the only Bangladeshi cricketer with more runs in the Asia Cup tournament, put on thirty-two for the last wicket.
Imrul Kayes
Tamim’s former opening partner Imrul made his half-centuries in 3 continuous innings at the Asia Cup. Nothing unexpected in that, except the fact that they played in three different seasons. The two over-boundaries in the second of these, to Shahid Afridi, brought a packed Mirpur crowd to its feet.
Anamul Haque
Anamul Haque played only in the 2014 edition of the Asian Cup, where he could do little wrong: his 4 innings included 100 against Pakistan, 77 against India, and 49 against Sri Lanka.
Athar Ali Khan
Athar Ali played his last Asia Cup match in the year of 1997 before Bangladesh became a Full Member of the ICC. Bangladesh lost all the matches where he played, but his average still sets well next to the Mushfiqurs and Shakibs. His best was 78 against Sri Lanka in 1989-90 and became Player of the Match despite the defeat of 71 runs. And in 1997, he scored 82 runs against Pakistan, 42 runs against Sri Lanka, and 33 runs against India. Considering all these stats, he is one of Bangladesh’s all-time Asia Cup ODI XI.
Mushfiqur Rahim (Wk & Captain)
Mushfiqur’s numbers can be divided into two parts: he averaged 16.11 in his first 9 matches, and 54.40 in the next 10 matches. The turning point came when he made a 25-ball unbeaten 46 against India and helped Bangladesh qualify to the final for the first time, in 2012. Bangladesh’s leading run-scorer, Mushfiqur, at the tournament, made 117 runs against India, 144 runs against Sri Lanka, and 99 runs against Paks.
Nasir Hossain
Nasir made at least 28 in 6 of his 7 Asia Cup games. With 165 runs in 55 balls, he played a key role in Bangladesh’s amazing run in 2012. At that time, for the first time, they qualified for the final of a multi-nation cricket tournament not featuring Zimbabwe.
Shakib Al Hasan
Shakib satisfies more with his bat than with the ball. In fact, it is the hallmark of the top all-rounders. His economy rate and scoring rate emphasize his importance in the team. At the top of the pile will be the 2012’s season with 237 runs at 59.25, and 6 wickets at 33.17.
Mohammad Rafique
Rafique’s illustrious career was finished before Bangladesh took off as a cricket team, but he made the most of his limited scope. Even in 2004, in his last Asia Cup, he gave away only 4.07 an over.
Abdur Razzak
Except for only 5 bowlers across the national team, no one from Bangladesh have more wickets than Razzak’s 22. It was his furious bowling that helped his team beat India and Sri Lanka in the year of 2012.
Rubel Hossain
Rubel’s best talent came out in his last match, in the 2018 final. He took out Ravindra Jadeja and Rohit Sharma. In that match, he bowled beautifully at the death to finish with 10-2-26-2.
Mustafizur Rahman
Mustafizur came back 2-38 in the same final where Rubel was on fire. But his best skills came in the game before that. Defending the huge 240 runs, he took 4-43 – 2 in his first spell, 2 at the end, to keep Pakistan to 202/9 and bring up Bangladesh to the final.
Conclusion:
However, Bangladesh’s journey in the Asia Cup 2023 is set to begin with a compelling clash against Sri Lanka on August 31 at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy, Sri Lanka. In that match, most of the players from Bangladesh’s all-time Asia Cup ODI XI will play. Now, let us see how the Bengal Tigers perform.
