Asia Cup 2018: 4 Records that were broken in the tournament

That records are meant to be broken has almost become a cliched statement in cricketing circles. However, in their proclivity towards furthering that cliched notion, the teams at the Asia Cup 2018 have lived up to the expectations and several records have been broken.

The Asia Cup 2018 has so far witnessed both dull and rivetting contests. While India's initial games against Pakistan and Bangladesh turned out to be damp squibs, the tie against Afghanistan was a nail-biter that went down all the way to the wire.

Pakistan had a patchy tournament which saw them lose against India and Bangladesh while Bangladesh managed to remain alive by virtue of their victory over Pakistan.

Afghanistan, despite being knocked out, produced some high-quality contests that witnessed them giving established teams a run for their money. However, the common theme in all matches was that almost every match in the Asia Cup so far witnessed one record or the other being broken.

Here we have a look at 5 important records that were broken in Aisa Cup 2018.

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1. Kuldeep Yadav - Fastest Indian spinner to 50 ODI wickets

Kuldeep became the fastest Indian spinner to reach 50 ODI wickets in India's tournament opener

Kuldeep Yadav is one of India's X-factors in white ball cricket. His variations and ability to fox the batsman with his wrong uns have made him an indispensable part of the team. Even in the ODIs in England, the English batsmen found it difficult to study his release points which enabled him to trouble them.

Unsurprisingly, since his debut, Kuldeep has regularly featured amongst the highest wicket-takers for India. In India's opener against Hong Kong, Kuldeep became the fastest Indian spinner to 50 ODI wickets as he reached the milestone in only his 24th ODI.

Kuldeep also became the second fastest Indian bowler to reach 50 ODI wickets after Ajit Agarkar and also features at the third position in the list of all-time quickest to 50 ODI wickets.

Amongst spinners, Kuldeep is the second quickest to reach 50 ODI wickets after Sri Lanka's Ajantha Mendis who took only 19 matches to reach his 50th wicket.

2. Lasith Malinga - Conceding 60+ runs in an ODI innings the most number of times

Malinga became the owner of the dubious record of having conceded 60+ runs most times in ODI innings against Afghanistan

That Lasith Malinga is one of the best death over bowlers in ODI cricket history is an indisputable fact. Malinga has pulled the rabbit out of the hat many a time to deliver incredible victories for his team.

Even though constant injuries have hampered his career, the fact remains that Malinga continues to be extremely effective in the death overs, even though he has lost his sting by a great margin nowadays.

However, those who have followed his career keenly would know that Malinga also has the tendency to leak runs despite his wicket-taking abilities. In Sri Lanka's shock loss against Afghanistan in the group stage, Malinga became the owner of the dubious record of having conceded 60+ runs in an ODI innings most times, by virtue of his spell of 66 runs from 10 overs.

Malinga has now conceded 60+ runs 29 times in ODIs, a dubious feat also held by Kiwi bowler Tim Southee who has also conceded 60+ runs 29 times. The next worst in the list are India's Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan, and Englishman James Anderson (25 each).

Considering his recent patchy form, it might not be a surprise to witness Malinga going past Southee and pushing him down to No.2 spot in this dubious list.

3. Rohit and Dhawan - Highest opening partnership for India in run chases

Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma have been a flawless opening pair in this tournament

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are one of the most formidable opening pairs in ODI cricket currently. The effortless manner in which they have blown the opposition away in the ongoing Asia Cup has further strengthened the notion that they are currently the best opening pair in the world.

It was largely because of their consistent batting that India has so far remained unbeaten in the tournament.

In the Super Four clash against Pakistan, Shikhar and Rohit broke the record for the highest opening partnership for India in run chases. They both stitched an opening stand of 210 and in the process, eclipsed the previous record of 201 between Sehwag and Gambhir (vs New Zealand in 2009).

The partnership was also the highest opening partnership for India in UAE, going past the previous record of 197 between Tendulkar and Ganguly (vs Zimbabwe in 1998).

The 201 run opening stand is also the second highest partnership for India for any wicket against arch-rivals Pakistan. The 231 run-stand between Tendulkar and Sidhu for the second wicket in 1996 still remains the highest partnership amongst Indian batsmen for any wicket against Pakistan.

4. MS Dhoni - Most tied ODIs as Captain

MS Dhoni now has the most tied matches as captain in ODI history

MS Dhoni is one of the most decorated captains in limited overs cricket history. He is the only captain to have won the ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup, and the Champions Trophy. After a 9 year stint, Dhoni handed over the reins to Virat Kohli early last year and has remained a behind the scenes person since then.

However, skipper Rohit Sharma was rested for the dead rubber against Afghanistan and absence of Kohli and Rohit meant that MSD had to don the mantle of captaincy for the 200th time in his career, becoming only the third captain after Ricky Ponting and Stephen Flemming to have led his team in 200 ODIs.

Despite being a dead rubber, the match went down the wire and ended up in a riveting tie. Thus in the process, MSD became the first captain in cricket history to led his team in 5 tied matches.

Richie Richardson (WI), Steve Waugh (AUS) and Shaun Pollock (SA) are next in the list with 3 ties each. It is a great irony that both Dhoni's captaincy debut (washed out) and his possibly his last match as captain failed to produce a clear winner.