India kicked off their Asian Games campaign with a bang, beating Nepal by 23 runs. A team full of youngsters and debutants was by the BCCI sent to take part in the Asian Games as the senior side prepared for the 2023 Cricket World Cup. Yashasvi Jaiswal starred with the bat, scoring his maiden T20I ton in just 49 deliveries.

The first Quarter-final of the Asian Games was played at the Pingfeng Campus Cricket Field, Hangzhou. Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad won the toss and elected to bat first. Having a boundary size of just 68 meters, the openers realized the batting advantage they had and went hell-for-leather from ball one. The openers posted a mammoth score 63-0 at the end of the powerplay.

Ruturaj Gaikwad looked a bit rusty, but Yashasvi Jaiswal looked in great touch with his free flowing stroke play and his knack of finding boundaries. The Southpaw laid the foundation of the Indian innings scoring 100 in just 49 deliveries and the finishers, Rinku Singh and Shivam Dube, laid the finishing touch with a combined partnership of 53(23).

Seeing India set a mammoth total of 202-4 in 20 overs, the Nepal openers, Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh took the aggressive approach, searching for boundaries every ball. This approach backfired as Nepal lost their first wicket as Avesh Khan took the wicket of Aasif Sheikh at the third over.

Runs kept flowing for Nepal, but they failed to build partnerships as the Indian bowlers kept picking up wickets. Ravi Bishnoi shined with the ball for India, picking up 3 wickets in 4 overs, going for just 25 runs at an economy 6. Nepal fell short by 23 runs and they are knocked out from the Asian Games, while India seal a spot at the semi-finals.

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