Asia Cup 2018: Rating the six teams on a scale of 1-10

Afghanistan

Afghanistan - The most popular team of the Asia Cup

Afghanistan were the giant-killers of Asia Cup 2018. They started their campaign in style winning both their group matches against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by huge margins. In the process, they eliminated Sri Lanka from the tournament.

In their Super-Four match against Pakistan, Afghanistan were almost there before Shoaib Malik took the game away from them in the last over. Against Bangladesh, the same thing happened and it was the turn of Mustafizur Rahman to stand in the way for Afghanistan. With those two heart-breaking losses, Afghanistan were sadly out of the tournament.

Even after those losses, Afghanistan showed tremendous fighting spirit when they met India. Mohammad Shahzad took the Indian attack apart scoring a century. The all-rounder Mohammad Nabi scored a fifty.

The Indian openers KL Rahul and Ambati Rayadu put on 110 runs. But, Afghanistan hung in there and when the opening partnership was broken, they slowly tightened the noose on the Indian batsmen. The Indians never expected this fight back from Afghanistan. The Indians were relieved to tie the match. However, it was a moral victory for Afghanistan.

Afghanistan were the most popular team in the Asia Cup. They provided a lot of entertainment to the spectators with their fearless brand of cricket. They were superb on the field. Their spinners Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb were remarkable. They won matches against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and very nearly gone past India and Pakistan.

For their daredevil approach and positive cricket, Afghanistan get 8 out of 10.