Asia Cup 2018: The Key Player For Each Team

While all the attention might be on India's series in England, it is about to turn towards the Asia Cup, which has given many thrilling encounters in the past and will give Indian fans an opportunity to watch their team take on arch-rivals Pakistan for the first time since disastrous Champions Trophy Final.

Further, the fact that the mighty Cricket World Cup is less than a year away means that every ODI match the teams competing in it play has added significance.

Teams will be looking at this as an opportunity to get their combinations right and find some form.

However, teams will not be looking at this tournament merely as preparation for the World Cup; the Asia Cup, in itself, holds a great amount of significance and every team will be looking to win it.

With that in mind, this slideshow looks at one 'key player' from each team that will be integral to their side's fortunes.

Note: Hong Kong's squad for the tournament has not yet been announced; hence, this slideshow does not pick out a key player from their side.

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India - Rohit Sharma

Despite his immense growth as a player over the last three years, Rohit has blown hot and blown cold in 2018: he has scored 324 runs in nine innings at an average of 40.5

Post the 2015 World Cup, Rohit Sharma has taken his game to a whole new level and has emerged as one of the best-limited overs openers in the world.

Further, in the absence of Virat Kohli, not only will he be the stand-in captain, but his batting will also be more important to the team's fortunes.

Despite his immense growth as a player over the last three years, Rohit has blown hot and blown cold in 2018: he has scored 324 runs in nine innings at an average of 40.5.

What is more worrying is the fact that 252 of those runs have come in two of the nine innings (115 vs South Africa at Port Elizabeth and 137* vs England at Nottingham).

He has gotten out for 20 or less in all of the other seven innings.

These signs will be worrying for India; however, Rohit Sharma has proven himself to be an extremely valuable asset in limited overs cricket and will be looking to turn his fortunes around in this series.

Pakistan - Hasan Ali

He is renowned for his wicket-taking ability, having taken 68 wickets in 23 matches

Life has not been the same for Hasan Ali since the 2017 Champions Trophy. Having entered the tournament as a fringe player who would merely have been hoping to play a few games, he emerged as the player of the tournament and led Pakistan to a dramatic victory.

Since then, his stocks have risen and he has become one of the premier white-ball bowlers in the world.

He is renowned for his wicket-taking ability, having taken 68 wickets in 23 matches, and his career bowling strike rate of 23 is the best for seamers that have taken at least 50 wickets.

In 2018, he has taken a respectable 12 wickets from seven matches, and he will be looking to build on his good run in this upcoming tournament.

Bangladesh - Shakib al Hasan

Shakib is undoubtedly the player to watch out for from Bangladesh

The fact that there has been so much uproar over Shakib Al Hasan's availability shows how valuable a player he is for the Bangladesh cricket team.

Widely regarded as both the best batsman and the best bowler in the team, Shakib is undoubtedly the player to watch out for from Bangladesh.

Despite his recent injury and fitness concerns, Shakib has been in extremely good form this year: with the bat, he has made 353 runs in seven innings at an average of 50.42, and with the ball, he has taken 11 wickets in eight innings.

For Bangladesh to have a semblance of a chance at winning the Asia Cup, it is integral that Shakib plays and performs to the best of his ability.

Sri Lanka - Akila Dananjaya

Dananjaya has proved himself to be an integral part of their limited overs set-up over the past year

Akila Dananjaya, one of Sri Lanka's many 'mystery spinner', has proved himself to be an integral part of their limited overs set-up over the past year.

He came back into national reckoning in the home series against India last year, and since then, he has only gotten better.

Possessing a wide repertoire of deliveries, Dananjaya is almost unarguably Sri Lanka's most potent weapon in the bowling attack and has had an extremely productive 2018 so far. In 10 matches, he has taken 17 wickets and was the leading wicket-taker in Sri Lanka's recently concluded series against South Africa with 14 wickets from five matches.

Despite a slow start to the year, he seemed to have found his groove in the series against South Africa and will be looking to carry on with that momentum in the Asia Cup.

Afghanistan - Rashid Khan

Rashid Khan is widely regarded as the best spinner in the world in limited overs cricket

A fan-favourite in all parts of the world, Rashid Khan is widely regarded as the best spinner in the world in limited overs cricket.

He is the leading wicket-taker in ODIs in 2018, with 38 wickets in 15 innings, and that too at a marvelous economy of 3.95.

Granted, a majority of his matches have come against associate nations and traditionally weaker teams; however, even in this year's IPL, against the best players in the world, Rashid put in extremely good performances.

In fact, he was regarded as the bowler of the tournament by many experts. Rashid Khan's lethal bowling, coupled with his handy batting and ability on the field, makes him one of the best-limited overs players in the world and certainly the key player to watch out for from Afghanistan.