Asia Cup 2022: 5 players who might not play tournament next year

Since the last decade, Asia Cup has been serving as a major precursor for the preparation of the teams for the ICC events. The format of the tournament generally gets decided by the format of the World Cup scheduled in the year. The next iteration of the Asia Cup will hold an ODI status due to the 50-over World Cup being scheduled in the latter part of 2023. With around one year to go for the 2023 edition of the Asia Cup, there certainly will be a lot of changes in the team’s combinations and future plans. Furthermore, with the rising number of T20 leagues, the players are now laying proper strategies to prolong their careers in the other two formats. Here is a look at- 5 players who might not play next year’s Asia Cup 1. Mahmudullah The talented batting all-rounder has been a torch bearer of the Bangladesh team in white-ball cricket. Mahmudullah’s ability to provide a late flourish in the death overs has helped the Tigers ace crunch moments. Furthermore, his usefulness with the ball in the middle overs often kept the opposition batters in check. However, he has not been at his best in the last couple of years, with inconsistent contributions. His best knock of 128* came in the 2015 World Cup, and since then has not been able to convert his starts. Furthermore, the 36-year-old recently lost his place on the ODI side for a brief period of eight months. Mahmudullah returned to the scheme of things earlier this year but has been rather average with his contributions. With the age factor and current form, Mahmudullah will certainly have roadblocks to feature for the Tigers team next year. 2. Samiullah Shinwari He has been a long server to the Afghanistan Cricket since 2009. Although he did not find fame like the other players, he still has been one of the cornerstones to help the national team to prosper in international cricket. Shinwari's best knock in the ODI dates to February 2015, wherein he slammed 96 against Scotland. Afterwards, the middle-order batter could not find a way to deliver enough match-winning contributions, which resulted in him getting dropped from the squad. Although the 34-year-old marks his presence in the Asia Cup 2022 squad (T20I format), he has remained sidelined from the 50-over setup for the last two years. It will be interesting to see if he still has the fire and the luck to make a comeback to the ODI team. 3. Avesh Khan Avesh received a national call-up by picking 24 wickets in 16 matches of IPL 2021, which also helped the Delhi Capitals to reach the playoffs. However, his performances have not been satisfactory in terms of wickets and economy. In 15 T20Is, the 25-year-old has bagged 13 wickets at an economy of 9.10. He has played only two ODIs and has three wickets under his belt with a costly economy of 7.74. It will certainly be a hard task for him to contain his line, lengths and be a strike bowler for India amid rising competitiveness among the pace bowling factory of the Indian team. Furthermore, the experienced trio of Jasprit Bumrah-Mohammed Shami-Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be his biggest competitors. On the other hand, another youngster Arshdeep Singh might sneak through due to his left-arm action while fully-fit Hardik Pandya will offer another pace-bowling option. 4. Dinesh Karthik The hardworking keeper-batter made a comeback to the Indian team earlier this year on the back of convincing performances in the IPL 2022 for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Karthik’s ability to remain composed during crunch moments and seal the match on most occasions helped him to earn the tag of the finisher. However, with the change in the format, the overall plans of the team management and captain often take a sharp turn. Although the 37-year-old has maintained his fitness to prevail in the shortest format, it will be a little difficult for him to cope up with the ODI format. In addition, the selectors will be looking to prepare the players like Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, and Sanju Samson for the role of a finisher to focus on the future, with Hardik already donning this role. All in all, Karthik can be missed in the next edition of the Asia Cup. 5. Iftikhar Ahmed The aggressive batter has been one of the prominent T20 players in the Pakistan pool of players. In 163 T20s, Ahmed has 3197 runs at a strike rate of 126.36. The 31-year-old’s appearances in the shortest format outnumber his presence in the other two formats due to his ball-striking capabilities. Since making his international debut in 2016, Ahmed has played 19 T20Is, 10 ODIs and 4 Tests. Ahmed last played an ODI match earlier this year against Australia and was neglected in the subsequent series against West Indies and the Netherlands, which reflects selectors’ stance on him. Although the swashbuckling batter hit 28 against India in the Asia Cup opener, he will be facing a stiff challenge from the likes of Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz and Faheem Ashraf for the number six/seven spots.

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Asia Cup 2022: 5 players who might not play tournament next year

Going by the trend, the next year's Asia Cup will be in the ODI format.

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