Bowlers often face the heat in T20I cricket. Short boundaries, flat pitches, and batters hitting hard. Not easy to bowl, right?
But not all days are bad. So on their best days, bowlers never fail to crush their opponents.
The result? The bowlers return with some of the finest performances, which often get talked about.
And this article will focus on five of the best bowling performances in the T20 Asia Cup.
Fazalhaq Farooqi (Afghanistan): 3/11 vs Sri Lanka | 2022
Teams want to start a tournament on a good note. But the 2022 tournament opener turned into a nightmare for Sri Lanka.
Afghanistan skittled them for 105 runs. And Fazalhaq Farooqi was the destructor-in-chief with the ball.
The left-arm pacer opened the bowling for Afghanistan. And guess what? He rocked back Sri Lanka in the first over with two consecutive dismissals!
Farooqi trapped Kusal Mendis and Charith Asalanka LBW with swinging deliveries in the first over. He followed that with a maiden over.
Farooqi then returned in the death overs to knock over Chamika Karunaratne, ending Sri Lanka’s innings. He finished with figures of 3 for 11 in 3.4 overs.
Pramod Madushan (Sri Lanka): 4/34 vs Pakistan | 2022
Finals are always tense games. And the 2022 Asia Cup final was one such match with Sri Lanka’s bowlers under pressure.
They had to defend 170. It was a good total, but it wasn’t completely safe. So Sri Lanka needed early breakthroughs.
Enter Pramod Madushan. He made two consecutive dismissals in the fourth over! That pushed Pakistan on the back foot.
Madushan further broke their back 10 overs later, removing a set Iftikhar Ahmed. This dismissal turned the momentum in Sri Lanka’s favour.
The right-arm pacer then bagged his last dismissal in the penultimate over to finish with 4 for 34, which helped Sri Lanka win the title.
Junaid Siddique (UAE): 4/18 vs Pakistan | 2025
Three years later, Pakistan’s batting woes were yet again visible. But this time against the UAE in a do-or-die match.
The start of the match had already seen a lot of drama. And then Pakistan’s batters became the talking point.
After being put into bat first, Pakistan were expecting to get a good start. But UAE’s Junaid Siddique had different plans.
His first target? An out-of-form Saim Ayub. He sent the opener packing for his third straight duck in the tournament.
Then Siddiqui went after the other opener, Sahibzada Farhan, leaving Pakistan reeling at 9 for 2. He returned in the 17th over to dismiss Mohammad Nawaz, with Mohammad Haris being his fourth victim in the 19th over.
Siddique’s 4 for 18 restricted Pakistan to 146 for 9, though the UAE faltered in the chase.
Nuwan Thushara (Sri Lanka): 4/18 vs Afghanistan | 2025
A day later, Nuwan Thushara wreaked havoc with the new ball against Afghanistan. The Lasith Malinga clone was all over Afghanistan’s top order.
Thushara swung the new ball in and out. The result? He got Rahmanullah Gurbaz caught out and clean bowled Karim Janat and Sediqullah Atal, all inside the powerplay.
Thushara’s new ball spell denied Afghanistan a strong start. And as the match entered the 18th over, he got rid of their captain, Rashid Khan. A big wicket for sure, given Rashid’s hard-hitting abilities.
With that, Thushara concluded his spell on 4 for 18, with Afghanistan struggling at 120 for 7. While Mohammad Nabi’s late flourish pushed Afghanistan to 169, Sri Lanka’s batters didn’t let Thushara’s performance go in vain.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (India): 5/4 vs Afghanistan | 2022
Thushara wasn’t the only one to trouble Afghanistan with the new ball. Bhuvneshwar Kumar had done the same three years ago.
Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 122 took India to 212. Those were more than enough runs to defend. But you don’t take risks with the Afghans.
So, India wanted to seize the momentum early on. And Bhuvi provided just that.
Bhuvi opened the wickets column on the fourth ball even before Afghanistan could score a run. His inswinger trapped Hazratullah Zazai LBW on a duck.
Two balls later, Bhuvi clean bowled Rahmanullah Gurbaz on a duck with a seam delivery. In the third over, he got Karim Janat caught out with an outswinger, then trapped Najibullah Zadran LBW with a beautiful inswinger.
Bhuvi had his five-for within the seventh over! A knuckle ball got the better of Azmatullah Zazai, leaving Afghanistan reeling at 21 for 6!
Bhuvi ended his spell, giving away just four runs in return for five wickets. The early pushback helped India restrict Afghanistan to 111 for 8.
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