BCCI felicitates Indian cricket team for winning gold medal at Asian Games

Indian Cricket Team (men and women's) both won gold medals in Asian Games 2023.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has felicitated the Indian cricket contingent for getting the glory home from the Asian Games 2023 played in Hangzhou. Both Indian women’s and men’s squads won the gold medal in the biggest Asian sports exhibition. This was the first time in Indian cricket history that teams took part in the Asian Games event and came out with the historical first-ever gold medal. 

BCCI President Roger Binny and Secretary Jay Shah met with the members of the Indian women’s and men’s cricket teams at Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium in Delhi. Both of them met with the Indian players and appreciated their efforts in the Asian Games event. The felicitation ceremony took place on Tuesday, 10th October. Indian men’s captain Ruturaj Gaikwad and women’s team captain Harmanpreet Kaur were present along with their respective teams. 

The Indian women’s team became the first team in history to grab the gold medal as the women's event was played earlier in the event. The Indian women’s team defeated Bangladesh in the semi-final and then Sri Lanka in the gold medal game played at Zhejiang University Oval in Hangzhou. India’s quarter-final game against Malaysia was washed out and the Indian team advanced to the semi-final as they were seeded higher in the competition. 

The men’s team also began their Asian Games 2023 campaign from the quarter-final round due to their higher seeding. India played against Nepal in the quarter-final and won the game by 23 runs. In the semi-final, India played against Bangladesh and defeated them by 9 wickets. The gold medal game against Afghanistan was a rain washout and India were awarded the gold medal due to their higher seeding. 

The Asian Games hosted cricket for the third time in their history. Before 2023, in 2010 Guangzhou hosted cricket for the first time, and then in Incheon, cricket was played in the Asian Games 2014. Team India didn’t participate in either of these events. Cricket will be most likely played in the LA 2028 Olympics as well.