Asia Cup 2023: Here’s a look at top 5 moments of last 7 days

Currently, the nucleus of the cricketing world is quite centred on the ongoing Asia Cup 2023 as the top Asian cricketing giants are showcasing brilliant cricket in the continental championship. It is more crucial as 5 out of 6 participating teams in Asia Cup 2023 are a part of the upcoming ODI World Cup, in India starting on October 5.

The cricketing fraternity has witnessed some thrilling moments in the Asia Cup 2023 so far, including both the group stage and the super-4 round of the tournament. It included everything, nail-biting thrillers, individual achievements, and a lot more stuff in the box.

With said that, here we’ll have a look at the top 5 moments in the ongoing 16^th edition of the Asia Cup from the past week, including the last part of the group stage followed by the ongoing super-4 round.

Afghanistan’s close defeat against Sri Lanka amidst a confusion of rules

The hosts Sri Lanka took on one of the emerging teams in Asia, Afghanistan; the match was crucial and all-important for both teams to ensure their spot in the super-4 round as it was also the last match of the group stage. Sri Lanka posted a good total of 291 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in the allotted 50 overs.

While chasing the target, Afghanistan were comfortably heading towards the target quickly owing to the concern of their net run rate in the quest for their qualification to the super-4 round. Unfortunately, there came a moment in the 38^th over when Afghanistan needed 3 runs and they ended up losing the match by 2 runs due to confusion in understanding the rules of achieving the target in a specific number of overs.

Sri Lanka becomes the second team with the highest number of successive wins

After qualifying for the super-4 round with a win close-win against Afghanistan in the last group match, Sri Lanka locked horns with Bangladesh in their first super-4 clash. It was also the second super-4 match for Bangladesh after they lost to Pakistan in the first match by 7 wickets.

The hosts, Sri Lanka registered a win against Bangladesh by 21 runs to register their 13^th consecutive win in the ODIs. With this win, the Dasun Shanaka-led Sri Lankan side became the second team in the history of the game to register the most successive wins just after the five-time World Champions Australia who had 21 consecutive ODI wins 20 years back in the year 2003.

Virat Kohli becomes the fastest to reach 13,000 ODI runs

The arch-rivals, India and Pakistan locked horns in a match which happened to make a mark in the history books for different reasons. One of those was none other than the former Indian skipper and batting superstar, Virat Kohli. He smashed a brilliant century of 122 runs off just 94 balls; it was the 47^th ODI century for the modern-day batting great.

With that century, Virat also achieved a massive landmark as he became the fastest to reach 13,000 ODI runs in his 267^th innings, surpassing the former legendary Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar who had achieved this feat in 321 innings.

India registers biggest win against Pakistan in 50-over format

Apart from the record-breaking century of Virat Kohli, Team India also achieved a landmark with a massive win against the arch-rivals Pakistan. In the head-to-head history of almost 54-55 years between India and Pakistan in the ODI, it was the biggest victory for the men in blue against Pakistan.

Rohit Sharma’s men defeated the joint-hosts of Asia Cup 2023 by a mammoth margin of 228 runs to start their Asia Cup 2023 super-4 campaign with a win.

Rohit Sharma scores 10,000 runs in ODI

The last and one of the remarkable moments in the Asia Cup 2023 during the past week came in the super-4 match between India and Sri Lanka. India won the toss and decided to bat first; the opening pair of skipper Rohit Sharma and his young partner Shubman Gill provided a strong start to the men in blue.

Other than that, Indian captain Rohit Sharma also achieved a big personal milestone as he completed the individual mark of 10,000 runs in ODIs. He accomplished this feat with a stylish six and became the second fastest in ODI history to score 10,000 runs just after his current teammate and former Indian skipper, Virat Kohli.