19th Asian Games: VVS Laxman’s India enter semi-finals on the back of Yashasvi Jaiswal’s Ton

Indian Cricket’s B team, head coached by VVS Laxman entered the Semi-final stage of the 19th Asian Games at Hangzhou. This edition of the continental games are seeing Cricket being played for the first time in its history and India without a doubt are favorites to land the Gold medal.

When Ruturaj Gaikwad stepped out to the middle for the toss at the ZJUT Cricket Field, he won it and elected to bat first. In a track that looked batting friendly, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Gaikwad’s pair brought a wave of runs in the first 10 overs.

Yashasvi Jaiswal's Maiden T20I 💯 powers India to a 23-run win against Nepal 👏#TeamIndia are through to the semifinals of the #AsianGames 🙌

Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/wm8Qeomdp8 #IndiaAtAG22 pic.twitter.com/3fOGU6eFXi

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 3, 2023

The duo amassed 103 runs for the 1st wicket before Gaikwad walked out the crease for 25 off 23. Yes, his partner Yashasvi Jaiswal produced a stellar performance in what was India’s first ever appearance at the Asian Games.

The fastest 50 scorer of IPL history, Jaiswal first scored a 22-ball half-century before amassing triple figures for the first time in T20Is. He scored half of India’s runs and went on to complete his 100 off 48 balls in the 15th over.

He dealt with the Nepali bowling attack through Sixes and Fours and scored 74 runs off boundaries. But Nepal’s hero from their last match against Mongolia, Dipendra Singh Airee removed Jaiswal right in the next ball he reached his Century.

Yashasvi Jaiswal The Future of Indian Cricket 🏏 ❤️🔥#INDvNEP #AsianGames2022
RutuRaj Gaikwad #ugramm
Tilak #RuturajGaikwad T20I #IndiaAtAG22 #Hockey Dube
"Cristiano Ronaldo" #WWERaw #ChelseaFC #NewsClick "Sai Kishore"
Thiruvananthapuram #OMG2 pic.twitter.com/XmhpmM3YPs

— Jagadish Msdian 💛🇮🇳 (@MsdianJr007) October 3, 2023

Following batters Tilak Varma and Jitesh Sharma departed for only 2 and 5 but later on India’s 2 Big Hitters Shivam Dube and Rinku Singh positioned themselves strongly against Nepal’s leaky bowling unit. Both of them stood for a 50-run partnership to help India post 202.

Rinku Singh the best finisher of the game as of now. Today he scored 23 runs in the last over against Nepal in the Asian games. pic.twitter.com/sdNiIAUN0m

— Syed Irfan Ahmad (@Iam_SyedIrfan) October 3, 2023

Rinku scored 37 off 15 and Dube amassed 25 off 19. In response Nepal started decently but kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Openers Asif Sheikh and Kushal Bhurtel scored 28 and 10 and both were removed by Sai Kishore and Avesh Khan respectively.

T20 cricket’s fastest centurion Kushal Malla showed a little bit of blitz but was out for 29 off 22 while captain Rohit Paudel left the crease for just 3 by Ravi Bishnoi. Dipendra singh Airee and Sundeep Jora tried their best to help Nepal at least closer to the target.

They played short cameos of 32 off 15 and 29 off 12 before Ravi Bishnoi and Arshdeep Singh struck again. Sompal Kami, Gulshan Jha, Karan KC and Sandeep Lamichhane were out for 7, 6, 18 and 5 with Nepal losing out by 22 runs.