Top 3 Teams In Asia Cup 2023: The full-member nations directly qualify for the Asia Cup every edition. It is one among the other Asian associate nations that fight for the last spot. The Asia Cup comprising 6 teams is played in two rounds. Two groups of 3 teams each play each other once.
The top two from each group qualify to play the Super 4s. It follows another set of round-robin and the top two teams from Super 4 play the finals. Pakistan and India qualified from Group A while Sri Lanka and Bangladesh made it from Group B.
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We rank the Top 3 Teams In Asia Cup 2023 based on their form and personnel:
#3 India
There was a lot of questions surrounding the India before the tournament. The core group of players hadn’t played together for quite sometime. There was a lot of injury concerns with their 3 key players returning from long-standing injuries. India made a shaky start to the tournament with their top-order wilting under the pressure of Pakistani bowlers. But India took a lot of heart from the partnership between Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya. India’s main concern in the big games has been the lack of such partnerships. Their lower middle order though couldn’t survive the steam and got bowled out in a jiffy.
In the second match against Nepal, India got a chance to test their bowling and fielding departments. India was pathetic to say the least on field. They dropped 3 catches inside the first 5 overs. Their bowlers couldn’t bowl consistent line and lengths. They somehow managed to restrict Nepal to 230 and chased it down in a hurry as the DLS rule came into play. India will need to conjure something special to make it to the finals.
#2 Sri Lanka
It is ironic that a team which played the World Cup qualifiers ranks above the host nation. Sri Lanka has been on a red-hot streak. They are the only side who have won both their games in the Asia Cup so far. Sri Lanka was pretty ruthless against Bangladesh with their bowling restricting the tigers to an under par score. Their batters did enough for them to secure a big win. In a close game against Afghanistan, Sri Lanka was severely tested. They did post a good score of 291 batting first. Afghanistan needed to chase it down in 37.1 overs.
The Afghans did give Sri Lanka a mighty scare. They were just one hit away from sealing a jaw-dropping win. But Lanka held its nerves to sail into the Super 4. Despite a severely depleted unit, Lanka have put in spirited performances and will challenge every team in this stage.
#1 Pakistan
They are the side to beat in this tournament. Pakistan has looked on song in both their games. Against Nepal they posted a tall score with two of their batters hitting sizzling centuries. Their bowlers then put on a bowling clinic as both their pacers and spinners were among the wickets. In a highly anticipated match against India, it was Pakistan who held the aces most of the time. Their new-ball bowlers reduced India to 48-3 which soon became 66-4.
Pakistan’s only area of weakness that got exposed in the game against India was their spin department. They seem to have rectified the error in their first Super 4 game against Bangladesh. Pakistan is playing Faheem Ashraf in place of Mohammad Nawaz. They look like a well-oiled engine and are certainly the biggest favourite to win the tournament.
