Asia Cup: Worst XI of all time

The Asia Cup will be back with its 2023 edition on August 31, 2023. This time, it will be played until September 17, 2023, in the One-Day International (ODI) format. In the continental tournament, legends such as Sanath Jayasuriya, Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma Muttiah Muralitharan, and Saeed Ajmal have made it huge and are the best players.

However, there have been many players who have failed to justify their role in the massive competition played among Asian teams. As the 2023 Asia Cup rolls around, it’s time to know about players who couldn’t live upto the expectations in the history of the continental tournament.

Let's look at the worst Asia Cup XI of all time:

1. Imran Nazir

Imran Nazir was known for his aggressive opening batter in white-ball cricket during the 2000s. However, in his 10-year international career, he couldn’t become a regular member of Pakistan’s ODI team due to his inconsistent batting performance. The former Pakistan stalwart got a chance to play a couple of Asia Cup editions but failed to impress with his bat.

In 2000, Pakistan won its maiden Asia Cup trophy in Bangladesh and Nazir contributed only 127 runs with a half-century in four games. Playing the first game against Bangladesh at the Bangabandhu National Stadium, he hit a half-century but in the later games, he struggled to be among the runs against quality sides India and Sri Lanka.

Nazir was part of Pakistan’s Asia Cup campaign in 2004 as well. This time, the Men in Green failed to showcase their best, and for Nazir, it was a forgettable series as he could accumulate only 52 runs in four games at a strike rate of 69.33. Playing a couple of Asia Cup instalments, the right-handed batter scored only 179 runs in eight matches.