3 Players who can lead Asia XI against World XI

The 100th anniversary of Bangladesh’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is around the corner and the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) are planning to celebrate the occasion with a two-match T20I series between Asia XI and World XI. The two games are scheduled to be played on the 21st and 22nd of March at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka.

BCB announced the two squads and there are some big names across both teams. Indian skipper Virat Kohli might feature in one game and KL Rahul is also expected to play one game. However, the likes of Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Shami are the other Indians who confirmed to take part.

There are two Sri Lankans (Lasith Malinga, Thisara Perera), two from Afghanistan (Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman), four Bangladeshi cricketers (Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, Musfiqur Rahim, Mustafizur Rahman) and one from Nepal (Sandeep Lamichhane) who are a part of the Asia XI squad.

With Kohli and Rahul available (likely, not confirmed yet) for just one game, it is unlikely that they will get the chance to lead the side. There are a couple of international captains in the squad while there are a couple of others who are capable of leading the Asia XI troops. Thus, here we look at three players who can possibly lead Asia XI in the two-match series against World XI.

1. Lasith Malinga

Lasith Malinga is one of the most experienced cricketers in this Asia XI line-up. In fact, no player made his international debut before Malinga in the Asia XI squad. It was back in 2004 that the ace Sri Lankan pacer made his Test and ODI debut. He made his T20I debut a couple of years later.

He quit Test cricket fairly early in his career and last donned the whites in 2010. But he’s been one of Sri Lanka’s premier fast bowlers in white-ball cricket. Malinga is the only cricketer in the world to have taken at least 100 wickets in each of the three formats. He is the leading wicket-taker in T20Is – 106 wickets.

Moreover, he is currently leading the Sri Lankan T20 side as well. The 36-year-old has been in and out of the captaincy positions. However, the veteran pacer has led his country in 22 T20 internationals, winning seven of them, including the 2014 World T20. Hence, he could be one of the picks to lead this Asia XI team.

2. Mushfiqur Rahim

With Bangladesh hosting the series, Asia XI might be tempted to go in with a Bangladesh player. And they may not find a better player than Mushfiqur Rahim. The wicketkeeper-batsman has had a couple of stints as Bangladesh captain without a lot of success.

Rahim has captained the national side largely between 2011 and 2014. He led in 37 ODI games and 23 T20Is which is the second-most for a Bangladesh player. He had a win percentage of 31.42% in ODIs and 36.36% in the shortest format. Rahim also has a win percentage of 51.36% as captain in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).

However, that was when Bangladesh were struggling. Rahim has matured as a player now and has been one of Bangladesh’s premier run-getter across formats. In fact, he is one of their most important players and plays a vital role in the middle-order. Hence, Rahim could fit well as a captain and will know the conditions well too.

3. Tamim Iqbal

Another Bangladesh player who could lead the Asia XI side is Tamim Iqbal. The left-handed opener doesn’t have a lot of captaincy experience at the international level. He has led Bangladesh in only three ODIs and has lost all three of them. However, he has led three different teams (Chittagong Vikings, Comilla Victorians, Duronto Rajshahi) in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).

Iqbal is at the top of the batting charts in ODIs and T20Is for Bangladesh. He has amassed 6892 runs in ODI cricket and 1717 runs in the shortest format. There’s no doubt he will be walking out to open the batting for Asia XI.

His experience could come in handy as well. While he isn’t the most favorite candidate, the 30-year-old might just get the nod with the big Indian names available only for one game.