Most Player of the Match awards in Asia Cup

The Asia Cup 2022 is around the corner. This will be the 15th edition of the continental tournament. The last 14 editions have witnessed many individual batting and bowling performances and a handful of them have also gone on to bag the Player of the Match awards. Meanwhile, there have been some of them to have won the POTM awards in Asia Cups on a regular basis courtesy of their cricketing brilliance in the Asian tournament. Without further ado, here’s a look at three of those top players.

3. Shoaib Malik – 5

Veteran Pakistani all-rounder Shoaib Malik has proved that age is just a number as he is still playing cricket and going strong at 40. He has represented Pakistan for 23 long years since 1999 and at the same time has managed to make his presence felt in the franchise leagues across the globe.

Malik has won five Player of the Match awards in Asia Cup between 2000 and 2018 and his best performance among them came against arch-rivals India in the 2004 edition where he scored a match-winning 143 off 127 balls and registered figures of 2/42 by picking up the wickets of Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh.

Shoaib will not be able to make any additions to his tally as he has not been included in the Pakistan squad for Asia Cup 2022.

2. Sanath Jayasuriya – 5

The legendary Sri Lankan all-rounder Sanath Jayasuriya has also succeeded in winning five POTM awards in Asia Cup between 1990 and 2008.

The southpaw has been a consistent performer in the continental tournament finishing as the Player of the Series in 2004 and following it up as the leading run-scorer in the 2008 edition in Pakistan.

Jayasuriya would have topped the list for his match-winning 125 in the 2008 final against India had it not been for mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis’ outstanding figures of 6/13 which eventually earned him the Player of the Match award.

1. Virat Kohli – 5

Virat Kohli might be going through a slump in his batting form for a long time, but the batting megastar also has five POTM awards in Asia Cups between 2010 and 2016.

Two of those awards were bagged for match-winning performances against Pakistan in the 2012 and 2016 editions. In 2012, he scored a blistering 183 which remains his highest individual ODI score to date.

Kohli was rested for the 2018 edition, but now he would be hoping to top this list with consistent performances in the upcoming tournament that will once again be played