India defeated Nepal in the quarterfinal of the ongoing Asian Games by 23 runs on Tuesday. The Hangzhou pitch has been a batting heaven. In the earlier match, Nepal thrashed Mongolia in the qualifying round. India skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad won the toss and elected to bat first. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a brilliant century in his first Asian Games match against Nepal. With his courtesy, India posted a massive target of 203 runs for the associate nation.
Jaiswal had a brilliant 2023 as the batter had a great Indian Premier League (IPL) season with Rajasthan Royals (RR). He also had a great first-class season with Mumbai. This earned him a call in the Indian team on the West Indies tour. In his first test match, he scored a century. On Tuesday he became the youngest T20I centurion for India and the first Indian to score a hundred in a multi-sports event.
Batting first the Indian openers, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad were off to a flyer as they scored 100 runs in just 9 overs. Ruturaj Gaikwad was the first wicket to fall as he departed after scoring 25 runs off 23 deliveries. Rinku Singh gave the finishing touch for India's innings and they posted a total of 202/4.
India qualifies for the semi-final stage
Yashasvi Jaiswal continued his white-ball form. He completed his half-century off only 22 deliveries. Gaikwad and Shivam Dube also made handy scores. Jitesh Sharma failed to have an impact in his first match as he scored 5 runs off just 4 balls. Rinku Singh who made his debut against Ireland, for his IPL season, played a quickfire cameo of 37 runs off 15 deliveries, which included four sixes. Dube on the other hand gave good support to Rinku as the former scored, 25 runs off 19 balls.
Avesh Khan and Ravi Bishnoi were the pick of Indian bowlers with three wickets each while Arshdeep Singh picked two wickets. R Sai Kishore had a good debut as he was economical with the ball and took some brilliant catches.
India will face either Bangladesh or Malaysia in the semi-final.
Here's how fans reacted:
Fixed match
โ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ (@THORthayaar) October 3, 2023
Bowling thik nhi lekin . Top team jesi chahiye bowling next match m
โ Er.Atul Vaidya๐ฎ๐ณ๐ฉ (@atulvai04795672) October 3, 2023
Most undeserving captain Ruturaj.
โ Abhishek Ojha (@vicharabhio) October 3, 2023
Rahul Tripathi should come in.
Under Rutu Captaincy !!!
โ Utkarsh (@utkarshh_tweet) October 3, 2023
Congratulations india! India creating history day by day! Love you team india!โค๏ธ
โ Mohit (@MohitMe11065970) October 3, 2023
Rinku Singh made the difference.pic.twitter.com/Dyk1rppIUe
โ Abhishek Ojha (@vicharabhio) October 3, 2023
Great coaching by vvs Laxman
โ Useer45 (@140of113) October 3, 2023
Jaiswal - Rinku the Beast when they are there ๐ฅ๐ฅ
โ Utkarsh (@utkarshh_tweet) October 3, 2023
Well done Yashaswi And Rink Singh
โ AK Chaudhary๐ฎ๐ณ (@twtlikeakhiladi) October 3, 2023
India won but Nepal had some clean hitters of the ball.
โ SamD ๐ฎ๐ณ๐บ๐ธ (@revisitorSam) October 3, 2023