Asia Cup 2023: 5 players who couldn't justify their performance

The Asia Cup 2023 tournament saw the Indian team coming out victorious after demolishing Sri Lanka in the final by 10 wickets. It was an absolute annihilation by Rohit Sharma and co, in Colombo as Sri Lanka were bowled out for a meagre total of 50 runs. India chased down the total in 6.1 overs to become eight-time Asia Cup champions. The tournament was full of amazing performances from the majority of participating players as multiple records were made and broken during the course of 13 matches in the tournament. Some starred for their side with the bat while some contributed immensely with the ball. However, there were a few big-name players who couldn’t do well and failed to justify living up to their stature. These players were expected to do big things for their teams. But for some reason, despite some getting good starts, couldn’t consistently do well. And other players just couldn’t bring their A-game to the tournament and failed entirely. Here are 5 players who couldn't justify their performance in Asia Cup 2023: 5. Fakhar Zaman Fakhar Zaman. (Photo by Tharaka Basnayaka/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Pakistani opener Fakhar Zaman had a horrific outing in the Asia Cup 2023 tournament. The left-hander scored 65 runs in 4 innings at an average of 16.25 and a strike rate of 58.03. The Southpaw even failed to cross the 30-run mark in any of the matches he played, with a highest score of 27. Zaman was struggling with the bat and in the field as well. Furthermore, he had not done well previously as well, having scored just 59 runs in the Afghanistan ODI series. Zaman, who is the only double-centurion in ODIs from Pakistan, definitely didn’t justify his stature in the tournament. 4. Dhananjaya de Silva Sri Lanka&#8217;s Dhananjaya de Silva. (Photo by LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI/AFP/Getty Images) Dhananjaya de Silva was another player who came into the Asia Cup 2023 with some reputation. But when it came to performing for the Sri Lankan team, the diminutive batter failed miserably. He managed 72 runs with 41 of those coming in a single innings. He averaged 12 with a strike rate of 61.53. He also picked up 3 wickets with his off-spin. His only notable score was 41 against India which came when Sri Lanka was faltering in the chase of 213 runs. But there itself, Dhananjaya failed to take the team past the finishing line. In the final, where Sri Lanka was blown away for 50 runs, Dhananjaya de Silva showed some good signs. He started by hitting a four to Siraj on a hat-trick ball. But then he perished the very next ball, trying to swat at an out-swinging ball. 3. Dasun Shanaka Dasun Shanaka (Photo Source: Twitter) Dasun Shanaka, the Sri Lankan captain, failed to lead from the front in the Asia Cup 2023 tournament. Sri Lanka should be commended for reaching the final of the event despite losing 3 of their first-choice bowlers. But the captain, who is also an all-rounder, couldn’t do much with the bat or the ball. Shanaka only made 54 runs with a best of 24 and picked up 4 wickets in total. 3 out of his 4 wickets and his best score of 24 came in the Super 4s match against Bangladesh. Against India in the final, Sri Lanka hoped that their captain could stop the fall of wickets, but he was bowled by Mohammed Siraj for a duck, on the first ball. 2. Rashid Khan Rashid Khan. (Photo Source: Twitter) Rashid Khan is one of the leading spinners in the world today, especially in white-ball formats. But even he couldn’t do much with the ball in the Asia Cup 2023 for Afghanistan. In 2 matches, he bowled 20 overs in total and picked 2 wickets for 129 runs and both wickets came in the same match. While Rashid Khan couldn’t do much with the ball in the Asia Cup. He did manage to make a mark with the bat. In the crunch match against Sri Lanka, Rashid made 27* in an attempt to get Afghanistan into the Super 4s stage but failed to do so. 1. Babar Azam Babar Azam (Photo Source: ASIF HASSAN/AFP via Getty Images) One of the biggest players in the Asia Cup 2023, Pakistan captain Babar Azam proved to be a disappointment. Babar Azam started well with a huge score of 151 against Nepal in Multan. But after that, his form went down drastically. The Pak skipper finished the Asia Cup with 207 runs in 4 innings at an average of 51.75 and had a strike rate of 97.64. But if one removes that 151 against Nepal, Babar only managed 17 against Bangladesh, 10 against India and 29 against Sri Lanka. The no.1 ranked ODI batter, Azam failed to step up for his team when they needed him the most. He was bowled by Hardik against India when Pakistan needed 357 to win. And then against Sri Lanka, he did well to get to 29 but was then stumped.

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Asia Cup 2023: 5 players who couldn't justify their performance

These five players in the Asia Cup 2023 came in with a big reputation, but couldn't justify their poor performances.

1. Babar Azam

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