The Asia Cup is a men's One Day International (50 overs) and Twenty20 International cricket (20 overs) tournament. Only Asian countries take part in the continental championship. Asia Cup is the only continental championship in cricket. The tournament was first played in 1984, a year after the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) was formed. Originally, it was scheduled to be held every two years. Later, it was held every four years. ICC announced that Asia Cup events from 2016 would be on a rotation basis between ODI and T20I formats. It will be decided on the basis of the upcoming ICC events. Bowlers are one of the reasons behind a team's success. In this article, We'll talk about the players with the most wickets in the Asia Cup.
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The Asia Cup schedule of the newest edition is out and the Pakistan team will challenge Nepal in the first match of the competition. The six teams are once again divided into two groups and the top two teams on the Asia Cup points table will qualify for the Super Fours.
Muthiah Muralidaran is one of the greatest bowlers in the history of cricket. He has taken 30 wickets in 24 Asia Cup matches at an economy of 3.75 and an average of 28.83. He was part of Sri Lanka's Asia Cup titles wins in 1997, 2004, and 2008.
Lasith Malinga is second on the list. He has been one of Sri Lanka's greatest pacers, especially in white-ball cricket. Malinga played in 5 editions from 2004 to 2018 and took 29 wickets at an economy of 4.65 and an average of 20.55. He finished as the highest wicket-taker in the 2010 and 2014 editions and won the competition with Sri Lanka in 2004 and 2014.
Another Sri Lankan bowler, mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis is third on the list of most wickets in the Asia Cup. Mendis took 26 wickets in just 8 matches from 2008 to 2014 at an economy of 3.98 and an average of 10.42. He was the highest wicket-taker at the 2008 edition. Mendis helped Sri Lanka to win the Asia Cup titles in 2008 and 2014.
Saeed Ajmal is the only non-Sri Lankan bowler in the top 5. Ajmal took 25 wickets in 12 matches between 2008 and 2014 at an average of 19.25 and an economy rate of 4.21. He was part of Pakistan's Asia Cup-winning team in 2012.
Another Sri Lankan pacer Chaminda Vaas completes the top 5 list of the bowlers with the most wickets in the Asia Cup. He played in the 1995 to 2008 editions of the Asia Cup. Vaas took 23 wickets at an average of 27.78 and an economy rate of 4.19.
Ravi Shastri was the leading wicket-taker in the inaugural edition of the Asia Cup with four wickets. Lasith Malinga was the leading wicket-taker in 2010 and joint leading wicket-taker in 2014. That makes him the only bowler to feature twice in the list. Ajantha Mendis in 2008 picked 17 wickets, the most in any edition of the competition. Here is the list of the all-time top 10 most wicket-takers in the history of the 50-overs Asia Cup.
| Player | Team | Matches | Wickets | Best Figures | Bowling Average | Eco. Rate |
| Muthiah Muralidaran | Sri Lanka | 24 | 30 | 5/31 vs Ban (2008) | 28.83 | 3.75 |
| Lasith Malinga | Sri Lanka | 14 | 29 | 5/34 vs Pak (2010) | 20.55 | 4.65 |
| Ajantha Mendis | Sri Lanka | 8 | 26 | 6/13 vs Ind (2008) | 10.42 | 3.98 |
| Saeed Ajmal | Pakistan | 12 | 25 | 3/26 vs SL (2014) | 19.39 | 4.21 |
| Chaminda Vaas | Sri Lanka | 19 | 23 | 3/30 vs Ban (2004) | 27.78 | 4.19 |
| Irfan Pathan | India | 12 | 22 | 4/32 vs SL (2012) | 27.50 | 5.54 |
| Sanath Jayasuriya | Sri Lanka | 25 | 22 | 4/49 vs Pak (1997) | 30.31 | 4.48 |
| Abdur Razzak | Bangladesh | 18 | 22 | 3/17 vs HK (2004) | 36.18 | 4.67 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | India | 14 | 19 | 4/29 vs Ban (2018) | 26.57 | 4.34 |
| Shakib Al Hasan | Bangladesh | 13 | 19 | 4/42 vs Afg (2018) | 32.72 | 4.87 |
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India's Bhuvneshwar Kumar has taken the most wickets in the Asia Cup (T20 format). He has 13 wickets in 2 T20I editions ( 2016 and 2022) of the Asia Cup. Here are the top 5 most wicket-takers in the history of the 20-overs Asia Cup.
| Player | Team | Matches | Wickets | Best Figures | Bowling Average | Eco. Rate |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar | India | 5 | 11 | 5/4 vs Afg (2022) | 10.45 | 6.05 |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | Sri Lanka | 6 | 9 | 3/21 vs Pak (2022) | 18.88 | 7.39 |
| Mohammad Nawaz | Pakistan | 6 | 8 | 3/5 vs HK (2022) | 13.75 | 5.89 |
| Shadab Khan | Pakistan | 5 | 8 | 4/8 vs HK (2022) | 14.12 | 6.05 |
| Haris Rauf | Pakistan | 6 | 8 | 3/29 vs SL (2022) | 19.12 | 7.65 |
| Edition | Player | Team | Year | Wickets |
| 1st | Ravi Shastri | India | 1984 | 4 |
| 2nd | Abdul Qadir | Pakistan | 1986 | 9 |
| 3rd | Arshad Ayub | India | 1988 | 9 |
| 4th | Kapil Dev | India | 1990-91 | 9 |
| 5th | Anil Kumble | India | 1995 | 7 |
| 6th | Venkatesh Prasad | India | 1997 | 7 |
| 7th | Abdul Razzaq | Pakistan | 2000 | 8 |
| 8th | Irfan Pathan | India | 2004 | 14 |
| 9th | Ajantha Mendis | Sri Lanka | 2008 | 17 |
| 10th | Lasith Malinga | Sri Lanka | 2010 | 9 |
| 11th | Umar Gul | Pakistan | 2012 | 9 |
| 12th | Lasith Malinga, Saeed Ajmal | Sri Lanka, Pakistan | 2014 | 11 |
| 13th | Al-Amin Hossain | Bangladesh | 2016 | 11 |
| 14th | Rashid Khan, Mustafizur Rahman, Kuldeep Yadav | Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India | 2018 | 10 |
| 15th | Bhuvneshwar Kumar | India | 2022 | 11 |
