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The knockouts of the men's T20 event at the Asian Games 2023 will kickstart with the quarterfinals on Tuesday at the Pingfeng Campus Cricket Field in Hangzhou.
While India face Nepal in the first quarterfinal, Pakistan will take on Hong Kong in the second contest of the day. The remaining two quarterfinals on Wednesday will see Sri Lanka lock horns with Afghanistan before Bangladesh face Malaysia later in the day.
Nepal, Hong Kong, and Malaysia have progressed to the quarterfinals of the Asian Games 2023 on the back of topping their respective groups in the first round. The rest of the teams secured a direct berth in the quarterfinals by virtue of a high ICC ranking.
India are touted as one of the favorites to clinch gold despite fielding a second-string outfit led by Ruturaj Gaikwad on the back of the main team preparing for the ODI World Cup back home. The likes of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan are also fielding second-string outfits for this very reason.
While there are some familiar and renowned bowling options in the Indian ranks such as Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, and Ravi Bishnoi, there are a number of exciting options that their batters will have to contend with depending upon how far they progress in the competition.
Ahead of the quarterfinals of the Asian Games 2023, let's take a look at three non-Indian bowlers to keep a watch out for.
#1 Mrittunjoy Chowdhury (Bangladesh)
There was something special about Mrittunjoy Chowdhury when he ran in for the Chattogram Challengers during the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2022. The country has produced a couple of very special left-arm seamers in Mustafizur Rahman and Shoriful Islam and it seemed evident that Chowdhury would be next in line.
A simple load-up and release, coupled with decent pace, variations, and a mean yorker headline what this prodigy is capable of. He capped off a breakout BPL season last year with a hat-trick against the Sylhet Sunrisers while earning his only international cap during Bangladesh's ODI series against Ireland in May earlier this year.
A left-arm seamer often brings a point of difference with the new ball with the angle often being tough to negate for a right-handed batter in particular.
Chowdhury being a complete package casts him as one who could light up the knockouts of the Asian Games 2023 and potentially define Bangladesh's fortunes as they look to go the distance.
#2 Nuwan Thushara (Sri Lanka)
While Matheesha Pathirana is busy gearing up for the 2023 World Cup, another bowler with a slingy-arm action will look to make his mark for Sri Lanka at the Asian Games 2023.
Nuwan Thushara has emerged as an outstanding bowler in the T20 format, having bagged 14 wickets at 18 apiece in the Lanka Premier League 2022 before backing it up with 11 scalps at 19.27 apiece this year.
His overall T20 numbers also make for outstanding reading as 103 wickets in 78 matches at an economy rate of 7.73 and a strike rate of 14.1 suggest.
The 29-year-old right-arm seamer bowls with decent pace while his unusual release point comes with the advantage of an increased margin for error and awkward bounce that foxes the batters - something the world has seen Pathirana do. These attributes are bound to come in handy on a ground as small as the Pingfeng Campus Cricket Field, especially if the pitch dished out is a flat one.
Thushara will be tasked with bowling the tough overs, particularly at the death in the knockouts of the Asian Games 2023. This is as good an opportunity as any for him to put his hand up as someone who can serve Sri Lankan cricket in the long run.
#3 Sufiyan Muqeem (Pakistan)
At a time when Shadab Khan has been struggling for control and consistency with the ball, there's a young spinner belonging to the rarest of rare breeds - left-arm wrist-spin - who could be Pakistan's game-changer at the Asian Games 2023.
Sufiyan Muqeem has just five T20s and three List-A matches to his credit so far. Having played for Peshawar Zalmi in this year's edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), he broke into the Pakistan A side for the Emerging Asia Cup in Sri Lanka in July.
He featured in three of the team's last four games including the semifinals and the final where he spun a web around Sri Lanka and India to turbocharge his side to glory.
The variety he brings with batters often taking time to get accustomed to a left-arm wrist-spinner is bound to be a difficult proposition to tackle.
Muqeem possibly spinning a web around some of the most highly talented young batters at the Asian Games 2023 shouldn't come as a surprise, nor should the possibility of him being fast-tracked into the main setup for Pakistan on the back of it.
Which of these bowlers do you think will have the biggest impact in the knockouts of the Asian Games 2023? Have your say in the comments section below!
