Asia Cup 2022: Rating teams based on their batting ahead of the tournament

5. Afghanistan 5/10

Afghanistan are one of the biggest underdogs in this year’s Asia Cup. They cannot be taken lightly as they have the potential to dismantle any opposition on their day. The Afghans were excellent in the last edition of the continental tournament that had taken place in the UAE as they defeated the likes of Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh nearly pulled off an upset over Pakistan and secured a hard-fought tie against the eventual champions India.

Najibullah Zadran, Afsar Zazai, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Hazratullah Zazai, etc. are some of the gifted batters who can go berserk once they are well-set. Meanwhile, the middle and lower order is brittle with captain Mohammad Nabi out of form for a long time and the likes of leggie Rashid Khan and wicketkeeper-batter  Rahmanullah Gurbaz not being able to showcase consistent performances with the bat.

Therefore, should Afghanistan lose their top order early, there could be an additional burden on the rest of the batters who might or might not click according to the situation.