ODI Asia Cup 2023: Team India is the king of Asia because the men in blue have won this tournament seven times till now. While Sri Lanka is the second-best team in the Asia Cup.
The Lankan Tigers have won six Asia Cup titles, and Pakistan has won just two titles. Sri Lanka is the defending champs of the Asia Cup in the T20I format while India is the defending champions of the ODI Asia Cup. They won that event in UAE in 2018 under Rohit Sharma.
The Asia Cup in 2023 will be played in the One Day International format mode. That is because of the ICC ODI World Cup that will be played this year in India.
Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be the hosts of this year’s Asia Cup, which will be played in the hybrid mode. India will play all the matches in Sri Lanka as they will not travel to Pakistan for security reasons.
Talking about the bowlers, India has produced some mighty talented bowlers who have done well in this tournament.
Today, we have mentioned the five Indian bowlers who have taken the most wickets in this ODI Asia Cup tournament. This list includes just two current players and three retired players of Team India.
Irfan was said to be the second best pace bowling all-rounder before Hardik Pandya and after legendary Kapil Dev. But due to the batting experiments under Greg Chappell, India couldn’t preserve Pathan for more.
Pathan was an excellent pace bowler who picked up a hat trick in Test match cricket. He was also part of the 2007 T20 World Cup in South Africa.
Pathan’s international career started in 2003 and went on till 2012. Irfan played in the Asia Cup from 2004 to 2012. In those years, Irfan Pathan had played 12 games and 12 innings.
He picked 22 wickets with 27.50 as an average, 5.54 as an economy rate and 29.77 as the strike rate. Irfan has also picked up two four-wicket hauls in this tournament.
The spin-bowling all-rounder, Ravindra Jadeja, is the second-highest wicket taker from Team India. Jaddu is the best spin-bowling all-rounder in the current set-up of India, and he is the key man for the team across formats and the Indian Premier League.
Jadeja has stepped up more as a batter, which is why he is the first-choice spin bowler in the team.
Ravindra Jadeja has played 14 matches and that many innings for the men in blue side from 2010 to 2018. Jaddu has picked up 19 wickets.
He had an average of 26.57, an economy rate of 4.34 and a strike rate of 36.68. Jadeja will be a crucial member who will help India to defend this title.
The God of Cricket is mentioned third on this list. Sachin was made for cricket, which is true because Tendulkar was mentioned as the top run-getter for India in the Asia Cup tournament, and now he is mentioned because The Master Blaster has also picked up the third most wicket as an Indian bowler.
Sachin Tendulkar also has the most five-wicket hauls in One Day International than the Aussie legend Shane Warne. Sachin picked up 17 wickets from 23 matches and 15 innings in the Asia Cup event.
Tendulkar had an average of 21.41, a strike rate of 26.94 and an economy rate of 4.76. This is an incredible achievement from God, considering that his primary role was as the opening batter of Team India.
India’s first-ever World Cup-winning captain, Kapil Dev has been listed as the fourth bowler to pick up the highest number of wickets in the Asia Cup of the fifty overs format.
Kapil Paaji was the greatest pace-bowling all-rounder that the Indian cricket team has ever produced. Currently, India is still searching for one to represent in all three formats.
Dev had played seven matches and seven innings of the Asia Cup in the ODI format. He had got 15 wickets to his name with an average of 13, an economy rate of 3.56 and a strike rate of 21.86. Kapil had also picked up one four-wicket haul in this tournament.
Another spin-bowling all-rounder is present in this list of the highest wicket-takers in the Asia Cup by the Indian bowlers. Ashwin has been a good batsman in the red ball format and has scored more than two Test match centuries for Team India.
But he has not contributed well as an all-rounder in the ODIs and T20I matches. That's why India prefers Ravindra Jadeja more than Ashwin.
Ravichandran Ashwin played in the Asia Cup tournament from 2012 to 2014. He has played 7 matches and seven innings till now. Ash has picked 14 wickets so far in the tournament.
Ashwin has not picked up any four, or five-wicket haul in the tournament. Now he will aim to achieve that feat in the ODI Asia Cup 2023. Ravi Ashwin had an average of 22.71, a strike of 29.42 and an economy rate of 4.63.
