Asia Cup 2022: Rating captains based on captaincy in the tournament

Captain, the decision maker of the team, has the power to change the course of the game at any moment. For example, Rohit Sharma promoting Ravindra Jadeja in India’s first match of the tournament was a brilliant tactical move while Mohammad Nawaz being promoted against India in the super four was considered as a masterstroke from Babar Azam.

However, heroes do fall! Babar Azam bringing Mohammad Nawaz late into the attack against Sri Lanka in the night of the finals was heavily criticised by Wasim Akram. Meanwhile Rohit not trying his options was also a matter of discussion in the Asia Cup. So, the point once again comes on how captains can influence a team and how his inputs can leave a long-lasting impression on the match.

Apart from Babar Azam and Rohit Sharma, how did other captains do in the Asia Cup? What are the things that the captains need to learn about? Here’s the summary of their performance in the tournament -

Captains and their performance in the Asia Cup

Nizakat Khan - 3/10

Despite having a poor time with the ball, Nizakat Khan and his Hong Kong team fought hard against India in their first match of the tournament. His changes in the bowling line-up was effective in the death overs and that stopped India from crossing the 200-mark in the match. In the following match, the team failed massively as they were all-out for 38 runs against Pakistan.

Nizakat Khan did not lead by example and that was a huge problem. Given the experience he has, the Hong Kong captain scored 18 runs from the two matches that the team played. His substandard innings didn’t help Hong Kong as they were ruled out before the second phase of the tournament.

Nizakat Khan earned his points because of his team’s performance in the qualifiers. Hong Kong managed to win all their three qualifying matches against Singapore, Kuwait and UAE and that is one positive thing for the team. They have the quality, it’s just that they need to nourish it by playing cricket on a regular basis.