Cricketing fraternity reacts as India clinch gold in Asian Games men's cricket competition

Indian cricket team won Gold medal due to higher seeding after the final match ended up without a result.

India fans erupted with joy after the Indian cricket team finished a glorious Gold dual in both men’s and women’s events in the Asian Games 2023 in China. After the Women's team won the Gold, Ruturaj Gaikawad-led Indian men’s cricket team also won the gold. Fans are thrilled after this special achievement from both of their cricket teams. Team India won the Gold in men's cricket competition due to their higher seeding in the ranking over Afghanistan after the final game was called off due to rain. 

Fans celebrate Indian win

Social media also erupted with joy as the fans started celebrating the cricket team's success at the biggest Asian Sports exhibition. Former cricketers and politicians joined the cricket fans to congratulate the Indian team. Team India have not participated in cricket events on the previous two occasions when cricket was played in the Asian Games. The BCCI denied sending their squad to the Asian Games due to their prior commitments with bilateral tours. 

Earlier, Indian women’s team defeated Sri Lanka in the Gold medal match to win the Gold on 25th September. 

2007 World T20 winner batter Robin Uthappa posted on Twitter, “The Men’s Cricket team's performance at the Asian Games is nothing short of incredible. Kudos to all the players for this remarkable achievement.”

Former Indian captain Anil Kumble tweeted, “Heartiest congratulations to the Men’s Cricket Team for winning Gold at the Asian Games.”

Shahidullah's valiant resistance

Indian captain Ruturaj Gaikwad won the toss and elected to bowl against Afghanistan. Arshdeep Singh and Shivam Dube started brilliantly after picking up one wicket each in the powerplay. Afghanistan were three wickets down in the powerplay. Shahidullah Kamal (49) added two decent partnerships along with captain Afsar Zazai (15) and Gulbadin Naib (27) to take Afghanistan’s score above 100. Shahidullah played a valiant knock to put Afghans in a challenging position. 

Rain arrived when Afghanistan were at the business end of their innings and scored 112 runs. No game was possible after the 18.2 overs in the first innings and the game was called off. India being a higher seeded team in the ranking won their historical first Gold medal in cricket in the Asian Games. Bangladesh defeated Pakistan to win the Bronze medal earlier on Saturday and Afghanistan had to settle for the Silver Medal.