Asian Games 2023: Sai Kishore Stars As India Beat Bangladesh by 9 Wickets to Reach Final

Sai Kishore shined in India’s thumping nine-wicket win over Bangladesh in the Asian Games men’s cricket semifinal at the Pingfeng Cricket Campus on Friday.

After the women’s team won a maiden gold last week, Ruturaj Gaikwad and his men now have the chance to complete the set on Saturday in the final.

India skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad’s decision to field first after winning the toss was vindicated by his bowlers, who produced a disciplined effort to restrict Bangladesh to a below-par 96 for nine. In reply, the Indians hardly faced any difficulty and completed the task in 9.2 overs to storm into the final in their maiden appearance in the cricket competition at the continental showpiece.

India lost the talented Yashasvi Jaiswal for zero in the very first over but that was the only success Bangladesh had as skipper 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.

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.

A formidable 9️⃣-wicket win over Bangladesh and #TeamIndia are through to the #AsianGames Final! 👏🏻👏🏻

Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/75NYqhTEac#IndiaAtAG22 pic.twitter.com/SsRVenSNmu

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 6, 2023