Here is our all-time India XI for the Men’s ODI Asia Cup, where they are the most successful side despite missing the 1986 edition.
India’s six titles are the most in the history of the Men’s ODI Asia Cup (they have also won once in the T20I format). Our XI consists of some outstanding cricketers.
Virender Sehwag
M 13 R 509 Ave 39.15 SR 114 | W 12 Ave 21.17 Ec 4.56
Sehwag’s most outrageous innings – a 36-ball 60 – came in a defeat, in the 2008 final when India collapsed against Ajantha Mendis. He made two other fifties and even a hundred, but he makes it ahead of Navjot Sidhu and Rohit Sharma largely because of his second suit: he was very difficult to score off on the slow Asian surfaces.
Sachin Tendulkar
M 23 R 971 Ave 51.10 SR 85 | W 17 Ave 21.41 Ec 4.76
Tendulkar is still 226 runs clear of any of his compatriots at the Asia Cup – but perhaps just as astonishing is his being India’s third-highest wicket-taker. The two men above him both average more than 25 with the ball.
Virat Kohli
M 11 R 613 Ave 61.30 SR 97 | C 7
Kohli’s numbers seem absurd because he made 67 runs in four matches in the 2010 edition. In his next five Asia Cup innings, he made 108, 66, 183, 136, and 48: the third entry on the list ranks among India’s finest ODI innings against Pakistan.
Mohammad Azharuddin (c)
M 18 R 468 Ave 58.50 SR 83
Azharuddin took on the Sri Lankans in the 1990s, especially in the mid-1990s, when they were the best side in the world on Asian soil. He led India to two Asia Cup titles, and scored unbeaten fifties at more than a run a ball in both finals.
Suresh Raina
M 13 R 547 Ave 60.77 SR 114 |
A prolific 2008 IPL earned Raina a comeback to the side during the 2008 Asia Cup, and he responded with two fifties and two hundreds. Batting at various positions, Raina scored at over 80 every time he faced 25 balls in an innings.
MS Dhoni (vc & wk)
M 19 R 648 Ave 64.80 SR 88 | C 25 St 11
India’s only long-standing wicketkeeper at the ODI Asia Cup, Dhoni had three reasonable editions before missing a fourth, in 2014. His numbers would have looked even more impressive had he not had an ordinary outing in 2018.
Ravindra Jadeja
M 14 R 157 Ave 39.25 SR 86 | W 19 Ave 26.57 Ec 4.34
Jadeja claimed four wickets twice and three wickets twice more, and went for under five an over nine times in 14 innings. There was also a backs-against-the-wall 52 not out against Pakistan in 2014.
Irfan Pathan
M 12 R 104 Ave 34.67 SR 81 | W 22 Ave 27.50 Ec 5.54
India’s leading wicket-taker in the ODI Asia Cup history, Irfan struck at least once in his first six outings. Eight years later, he claimed 4-32 against Sri Lanka on a flat wicket. With the bat, he made two contrasting 38s against Pakistan in two separate editions.
Kapil Dev
M 7 R 53 Ave 17.67 SR 74 | W 15 Ave 13.00 Ec 3.56
Only seven matches for Kapil – but at more than two wickets a match (including a hat-trick in the 1990/91 final), he did enough to be picked, despite the fact that he was nowhere close to his destructive best with the bat.
R Ashwin
M 7 R 27 Ave 13.50 SR 117 | W 14 Ave 22.71 Ec 4.63
Ashwin played as many matches as Kapil and had one wicket fewer, taking a wicket every time he bowled. He took 3-39 against Sri Lanka in 2012 and 3-44 against Pakistan in 2014, though the latter is unfairly remembered for Shahid Afridi’s six off him.
Venkatesh Prasad
M 7 W 13 Ave 17.76 Ec 4.44
Prasad impressed in the 1995 edition with six wickets in three matches, but his finest performance came in an abandoned match, at the SSC in 1997: he claimed 4-17 to reduce Pakistan to 30-5 – before rain prevented further play.
