3 non-India batters to watch out for in Asian Games 2023 ft. Haider Ali

Cricket has been featured at the Asian Games for the third time since 2010. The two-innings sport was dropped from the previous edition of the continental showpiece in Jakarta in 2018. Hence, it returned to Hangzhou after a gap of nine years.

India won the gold medal in the Women’s T20I Asian Games 2023. The men’s tournament commenced on September 27, and the gold medal match is scheduled for October 7, along with the third-place finish for the bronze medal.

The quarterfinal stage for the men’s team event will start on Tuesday, October 3, with all the matches being hosted at the Pingfeng Campus Cricket Field in Hangzhou, which is the host city of the 19th Asian Games.

India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Hong Kong, Afghanistan, and Malaysia have qualified for the last eight round. Barring India, let us take a glance at three batters that will make a key difference for their respective batting order in the knockout stage.

---

#3 Lasith Croospulle (Sri Lanka)

Lasith Croospulle will look at the Asian Games 2023 as a stepping stone to international success. He is likely to make his Sri Lanka debut against Afghanistan in the quarterfinal game on October 4.

Croospulle’s wicket will be of vital importance to the second-string Sri Lankan side led by Sahan Arachchige. The 24-year-old has amassed 900 T20 runs in 44 innings at a strike rate of 128.20 with the help of four fifty-plus scores.

The youngster was adjudged the emerging player of the Lanka Premier League 2023. The Galle Titans opener was the highest run-getter for his side in the fourth edition of the tournament, with 232 runs at a strike rate of 139.76.

---

#2 Parvez Hossain Emon (Bangladesh)

The young Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batter was first seen on the international stage during the 2020 ICC U19 World Cup in South Africa. He scored a 33-ball, unbeaten 58 in Bangladesh U19’s nine-wicket win against Zimbabwe U19 in their first game.

He finished the tournament with a determined 47 in the final against India to pave the way for Bangladesh’s 170-run moderate chase as the young Tigers lifted the title against tournament favorites.

Parvez Hossain Emon thoroughly enjoys caressing the ball through the covers; a deft touch is all it takes to toy with the bowler’s pace. He scored a scintillating century in just 42 balls to inspire Fortune Barishal’s 221-run mammoth chase against Minister Rajshahi in the Bangabandhu T20 Cup in December 2020.

The left-handed batter made his international debut for Bangladesh against Zimbabwe in the third T20I in August last year. The opportunity was squandered, with just two runs coming off his willow while chasing 157. The Asian Games should be a roadmap for the 21-year-old to find his place back in the international side.

---

#1 Haider Ali (Pakistan)

Haider Ali will be the lynchpin in Pakistan’s batting order in this Asian Games, having played 114 professional T20 matches, both at the international and local stages of the game. He has scored over 2,000 runs and possesses a strike rate of 134.24.

He will be ably supported by other experienced campaigners like Asif Ali and Khushdil Shah in the Pakistan batting unit. He showed some significant signs of improvement in the T20 Blast following his axing from the Pakistan team in the T20 World Cup last year.

Haider Ali assumed the role of floater in Derbyshire’s batting order during the Blast. From a late cameo of 26 runs off 13 balls to enforce a tie with a boundary on the final ball against Durham to a belligerent 74 off 47 balls against Yorkshire, the Pakistan batter didn’t fail to showcase his batting prowess.