Asian Games: India Rout Bangladesh in Men’s Cricket Semis; Enter Gold-medal Clash – News18

India took another step towards winning the gold medal in the men’s cricket event of Asian Games with a one-sided win over Bangladesh in their semi-final meeting in Hangzhou on Friday morning.

Bangladesh failed to put up a fight as India dominated across departments to win by nine wickets and enter the final.

India, who are appearing for the first time in the competition of the multi-sport event, limited Bangladesh to just 96/9 with their spinners taking eight wickets between them while Arshdeep was the lone pacer to pick up a wicket.

Also Read: India vs Bangladesh, Highlights

India batters made short work of the target as they sprinted to it in just 9.2 overs.

India did lose Yashasvi Jaiswal for a duck in the very first over but that was the only success Bangladesh had as skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (40 not out off 26 balls; 4×4, 3×6) and Tilak Varma (55 not out; 26b; 2×4, 6×6) sealed the win with 64 balls to spare in the T20I match.

Rising allrounder Varma, who struck a 25-ball fifty, had an emotional celebration after reaching the milestone when he lifted his shirt to reveal a tattoo dedicated to his parents.

India will take on the winners of Pakistan and Afghanistan in the gold medal clash on Saturday.

Sai Kishore was the most successful bowler for India as he finished with excellent figures of 3/12 from four overs, while Washington Sundar also bowled impressively to end with a tidy 2/15 in his full quota of overs.

There was a wicket apiece for Arshdeep Singh, Tilak Varma, Ravi Bishnoi and Shahbaz Ahmed.

The duo of Gaikwad and Varma toyed with the Bangladesh bowling and were mostly dealing in fours and sixes at the small Zhejiang University of Technology Cricket Field.

Bangladesh’s bowlers had no answer to the onslaught launched by Ruturaj and Tilak who seemed to be competing with each other in hitting fours and sixes.

Earlier, Sai Kishore and Washington struck in tandem to restrict Bangladesh who struggled against the slow bowlers.

For Bangladesh, Parvez Hossain Emon (23), Jaker Ali (24 not out), and Rakibul Hasan (14) were the notable contributors with the bat.

While Ali remained not out, Shahbaz ended Rakibul’s cameo when he had the batter caught in the 17th over. Before that, Tilak cut short Emon’s 32-ball stay in the middle.

In Arshdeep, India have surprisingly picked only one seamer in their playing XI, while Shahbaz Ahmed made his T20I debut for India.

Brief Scores: Bangladesh 96/9; 20 overs (Jaker Ali 24 not out, Parvez Hossain Emon 23; Sai Kishore 3/12, Washington Sundar 2/15) lost to India 97/1; 9.2 overs (Tilak Varma 55 not out, Ruturaj Gaikwad 40 not out) by nine wickets.

With PTI Inputs