India defeated Nepal by 23 runs to seal themselves a place in the semifinal. But contrary to what many expected, Nepal gave them a fight which no one say coming. Saying India survived a scare today wouldn’t be an exaggeration as Nepal finished on 179/9 in reply to India’s 202/4. Despite having Nepal 4 down at 77, Dipendra Airee, Sundeep Jora and Karan KC struck some lusty blows to raise the possibility of a huge upset, but in the end, the Indian bowlers used their experience to avoid a shocker. Three wickets each to Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan did the trick for India, but loopholes remain.
Avesh struck early to provide India with an important breakthrough, and debutant R Sai Kishore dismissed Kushan Bhurtel, adding to the early pressure on Nepal during their chase. Subsequently, Nepal’s situation worsened as they kept losing wickets while attempting to cope with a demanding required run rate. This challenging situation came after Yashasvi Jaiswal dished out a brilliant performance with a 48-ball century, and Rinku Singh played an explosive innings, scoring 37 runs off just 15 balls, which included four powerful sixes. These stellar innings allowed India to post a formidable 202/4 against Nepal in the Asian Games 2023 cricket quarterfinal 1 held in Hangzhou.
After India captain Ruturaj Gaikwad won the toss and opted to bat in Hangzhou, the openers, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Jaiswal teed off inside the Powerplay, bringing up the fifty inside four overs. Jaiswal took all off just 22 balls to bring up his half-century, and continued to make merry despite his partner and captain, Gaikwad subdued. Gaikwad finally got a couple of boundaries going but it did not last long as he perished for 25 trying to clear the boundary.
Nepal then landed a couple of more blows with Sompal Kami cleaning up Tilak Varma and Sandeep Lamichhane dismissing Jitesh Sharma out caught and bowled, even though Jaiswal’s big hits kept India ticking. Jaiswal held up one end to complete his century but departed soon after denting India’s hopes of reaching 200 immensely. But Rinku did Rinku things, and smashed two sixes and two fours in the final over to help India breach that mark.
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