Asia Cup 2022: Here's a look at the best Playing XI of the tournament

Asia Cup 2022 has concluded with Sri Lanka as the champions for the sixth time in the history of the tournament since its inception. The islanders completely outplayed all the teams with five consecutive wins in the tournament. Dasun Shanaka & co faced a defeat only in their first match.

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Other than Sri Lanka, the other finalist team Pakistan also played well till the finals. They won three out of the six matches played in the tournament including the final. Talking about the other teams apart from finalists Sri Lanka and Pakistan, then a few Indian players have also impressed everyone with their stellar performances.

So, here we’ll have a look at the best playing XI from the Asia Cup 2022 including some players of the participating teams.

Openers – Virat Kohli and Mohammad Rizwan

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Star Pakistani batter Mohammad Rizwan ended up in the Asia Cup 2022 as the highest run-scorer in the tournament. He smashed 281 runs in six innings of six matches with a good average of 56.20 having three half-centuries to his name. He can be a good fit as an opener if it is about to pick the best playing XI of the Asia Cup.

To accompany Mohammad Rizwan, nobody would be better than the former Indian skipper and senior batter Virat Kohli who amazed and impressed everyone with his stellar outings in the tournament. Kohli is on the second spot in the list of highest run-scorers of the tournament. He scored 276 runs in five innings of five matches with a stunning average of 92.00 having a century and two half-centuries on his credit.

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Middle-Order – Dasun Shanaka ©, Iftikhar Ahmed, and Bhanuka Rajapaksa

While considering the skipper and middle-order of this best playing XI, then the champion skipper Dasun Shanaka will be the first choice to have as the captain of the team. He can also bat at number three in this XI. Following Shanaka, Pakistani batter Iftikhar Ahmed can be the number-four batter in this lineup.

Now, the very crucial number-five of the batting order, is the juncture where you need an explosive batter who can finish things for you smoothly. So, the player of the match of the final of the tournament will be the perfect individual to fill this place. Rajapaksa ended up as the fourth highest run-scorer in the tournament with 191 runs in six innings of six matches. He scored runs with a commendable average of 47.75 having a match-winning half-century in the final against Pakistan.

All-rounders – Hardik Pandya and Wanindu Hasaranga

Wanindu Hasaranga: (Image Source: Twitter)

Star Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya has not been that much phenomenal in the tournament in comparison to his all-round performance in the first match against Pakistan. But still his potential of turning the match anytime both with the bat and the ball makes him eligible to be a part of this best XI.

Other than Pandya, Sri Lankan star Wanindu Hasaranga can accompany him in this lineup. Hasaranga impressed everyone with his all-round outings in the tournament. The 24-year-old scored 66 runs with the bat in the five innings of six matches with an average of 22.00 and also scalped nine wickets with the bowl to end up as the second-highest wicket-taker in the Asia Cup 2022. His all-round performance in the final played a vital role in Sri Lanka’s title triumph.

Bowlers - Mohammad Nawaz, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Haris Rauf, and Naseem Shah

Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Image Credit : Twitter)

Now talking about the very crucial bowling department of this best playing XI, then we can go ahead with a combination of three pacers and one specialist spinner in the lineup. Rawalpindi-born left-arm orthodox bowler Mohammad Nawaz would be a great fit as the specialist spinner in the best playing XI. Notably, Nawaz ended up as the third-highest wicket-taker in the tournament with eight wickets to his name in six innings.

Leading wicket-taker of the Asia Cup 2022, senior Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar will lead the pace attack of this eleven. Star pacers of Pakistan, Haris Rauf and Naseem will be a perfect pair to accompany Bhuvneshwar Kumar.