IND vs NEP Match Highlights: Riding on a brilliant century by Yashasvi Jaiswal and an explosive innings by Rinku Singh, India defeated Nepal by 23 runs in the Asian Games 2023 cricket quarterfinal 1 held in Hangzhou. India posted a formidable 202/4 against Nepal, with Jaiswal scoring a 48-ball century and Rinku Singh smashing 37 runs off just 15 balls, which included four powerful sixes. In reply, Nepal could only reach 179/9.
Even though India wo the match comfortably in the end, there were numerous stages during the Nepal run-chase when they felt the heat.
On the bowling front, Avesh Khan and leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi took three wickets each to derail the Nepal run chase. Avesh struck early to provide India with an important breakthrough even as Arshdeep Singh leaked runs from the other end and was inconsistent with his line and length.
Debutant R Sai Kishore then dismissed Kushan Bhurtel as Nepal kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Bishnoi was superb with his control and bagged three wickets to peg back Nepal.
Indian captain Ruturaj Gaikwad won the toss and opted to bat in Hangzhou. India capitalised the powerplay overs, with Gaikwad and Jaiswal bringing up the fifty inside the first four overs.
Jaiswal took all off just 22 balls to bring up his half-century even as Gaikwad struggled to find the boundary. Gaikwad finally holed out to Nepal captain Rohit Paudel for a 23-ball 25 that included four hits to the fence.
Nepal then pegged back India with Sompal Kami cleaning up Tilak Varma, who made just 2 runs off 10 balls, and Sandeep Lamichhane dismissing Jitesh Sharma (5) in quick succession.
As wickets fell, Jaiswal held up one end to complete his century in just 48 balls, which included eight boundaries and seven sixes. However, he perished while trying to propel the Indian innings.
All-rounder Shivam Dube (25 off 19 balls) and Rinku Singh then got the innings moving and the boundaries kept coming at regular intervals. The last over saw Rinku Singh unleashing a brutal assault, hitting two monstrous sixes and two fours to give India the finishing kick, taking them to 202.
However, Nepal proved they were no pushovers and a late cameo from Sundeep Jora brought the equation down to 56 off 24. However, a flurry of wickets towards the end saw India winning by 23 runs.
