Ruturaj Gaikwad will lead the Indian men’s cricket team at the Hangzhou Games.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) revealed on Friday a 15-man Indian men’s cricket team and five standby players for the forthcoming Asian Games 2023, which will be held in Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China, from September 23 to October 8.
The Asian Games 2023 men’s cricket event, which will be played in the T20 format, will take place from September 28 to October 8. All matches will be held at the Pingfeng Cricket Field at Zhejiang University of Technology.
Considering the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup starting in India on October 5, India will field a primarily second-string side in Hangzhou, missing first-team regulars such as Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and others.
The Hangzhou-bound group, on the other hand, will include a number of potential young players, the majority of whom have excelled in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Ruturaj Gaikwad, 26, of the Chennai Super Kings of the Indian Premier League, will captain the Indian team at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Arshdeep Singh, the best wicket-taker for Punjab Kings in the IPL 2023, has been included to the squad. Yashasvi Jaiswal of Rajasthan Royals, who produced a century on debut in the present Test against the West Indies, was also named.
Rinku Singh, whose ferocious innings for Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2023 grabbed headlines this season, was also named to his first India squad.
For the first time, India has named men’s and women’s teams for the Asian Games cricket competition.
Cricket has previously been played at the Asian Games in Guangzhou in 2010 and Incheon in 2014. Bangladesh won the inaugural tournament, while Sri Lanka is the reigning champion. Afghanistan finished second on both occasions.
This is the men’s cricket team’s second appearance in a multi-sport tournament. The Indian men’s cricket squad competed in a 50-over format at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur. However, the matches were not given international status and were recorded as List A games.
Indian men’s cricket team – complete squad at the Asian Games 2023
Team India squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wicket-keeper), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Shivam Mavi, Shivam Dube, Prabhsimran Singh (wicket-keeper)
Standby players: Yash Thakur, Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Sai Sudarsan