Asia Cup has finally ended with Sri Lanka winning the trophy for the 6th time as they defeated Pakistan by 23 runs in the final match in Dubai.
Dasun Shanaka led Sri Lanka finally won Asia Cup 2022 after beating Pakistan by 23 runs in the final match played in Dubai. Bhanuka Rajapaksha's innings changed the course of the game for Sri Lanka after he played an innings of 71 runs in 45 deliveries and this innings came at a time when Sri Lanka was reeling at 58-5 at one time.
But, this isn't the only innings of the Asia cup that changed the course of the game entirely. We were fortunate enough to witness some of the incredible individual performances through the Asia cup in which a player single-handedly turned the game in his team's favor.
Here's a look at some of the brilliant individual performances of the Asia cup.
1. Naseem Shah
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Naseem Shah is among one of the most talented bowlers to look out for in the future and he took the responsibility of Pakistan's pace attack on his shoulders in the absence of their prime bowler Shaheen Afridi.
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He bowled with accurate line and length and bowled in different scenarios of the game and delivered for the team. But this best performance of the tournament didn't came with the ball but rather it came with the bat.
During Pakistan's 2nd super 4 clash of the Asia cup which was against Pakistan, the men in green needed 11 runs in 6 deliveries and had only 1 wicket left. Naseem Shah was facing and smacked the 1st and 2nd delivery of the 2nd over for massive sixes to win the game for his side.
If he failed to do so, Pakistan would've been eliminated from the tournament.
2. Virat Kohli
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Virat Kohli had taken an extensive break after the tour of England, skipping the tours of Zimbabwe and West Indies, and only returned to action in the Asia Cup. And a positive impact of this break was clearly visible in his performance.
Kohli finished second in the run-scorers list behind Rizwan, though by a margin of only five runs as he collected 276 runs across five innings at a superb average of 92 and a strike rate of 147.59. Most importantly, he ended a near-three-year wait for an international ton by smashing an unbeaten 122 against Afghanistan in India’s final match of the tournament.
3. Wanindu Hasaranga
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Wanindu Hasaranga had struggled in a couple of games during the tournament, and yet is among the key reasons behind Sri Lanka’s sixth Asia Cup victory as he played a crucial role in the business end of the tournament, especially in the final where he dished out an all-round performance (36 and 3/27) to be adjudged the Player of the Final.
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Hasaranga’s consecutive three-fors in the last two games of the tournament – having collected 3/21 in the final Super 4 clash two days before the final — helped the star all-rounder finish second on the wicket-takers list with nine wickets to his name. And he was quite handy with the bat as well — his 66 runs in the tournament came at a strike rate of 150.
4. Bhuvneshwar Kumar
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Despite getting hammered in the penultimate over in consecutive defeats, both while defending fairly competitive totals, Bhuvneshwar Kumar ended up finishing on top of the leading wicket-takers list with 11 scalps to his name, including the only five-for of the tournament.
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The two horror 19th overs against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Super 4s will have dented his reputation as a death overs specialist though it doesn’t quite put his spot in the T20 World Cup squad in danger yet.
Bhuvi, however, did end up redeeming himself for those two forgettable performances with a dream spell of 4-1-4-5 in India’s final game of the tournament against Afghanistan.
5. Mohammad Rizwan
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Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Rizwan continued his fine run of form as he finished as the leading run-scorer in the tournament with 281 runs from six innings at an average and strike rate of 56.20 and 117.57 respectively.
Rizwan played a crucial part in Pakistan’s run to the final in a tournament especially when skipper Babar Azam and No 3 batter Fakhar Zaman struggled to make an impact with the bat, especially the former.
His 71 against India in the Super Fours was perhaps his most crucial contribution as he kept the team’s hopes alive during the 182-run chase after losing Babar early in the innings, forging vital partnerships along the way.
