Asian Games: Schedule of cricket in Asian Games came out, Rituraj's team will play quarter-final on October 5
The cricket schedule for the Hangzhou Asian Games has been released.
Time to Read 5 Min
The cricket schedule for the Hangzhou Asian Games has been released. Both the men's and women's cricket teams of India will play directly in the quarterfinals of the tournament. If the Indian women's team reaches the final, women's team captain Harmanpreet Kaur will be able to play. Harmanpreet will have to sit on the bench in the quarter-finals and semi-finals. He was banned for two matches by the ICC for abusing the umpire in Bangladesh. At the same time, the Indian men's team may have to play cricket for three consecutive days.
Women's cricket starts on 19th September and men's cricket starts from 28th September
The women's cricket teams' competition at the Asian Games will begin on 19 September and conclude with the gold and bronze medal matches on 26 September. The men's cricket team competition will begin on September 28 and the final will be played on October 7, two days after the start of the men's ICC ODI World Cup. Being among the top three teams in Asia, India has to start from the quarter-finals instead of the group stage. If the Indian men's team manages to qualify for the final, it will have to play three consecutive days of cricket.
Indian men's cricket team schedule
On October 5, the Indian men's cricket team will play its first match as a quarterfinal. After this, the semi-finals will be played on October 6 and the final on October 7. There is every possibility that the Indian men's team's quarter-final match could be against Afghanistan and Bangladesh. If the Indian team manages to reach the finals, then its matches will start at 12 noon Indian time.
Indian women's cricket team schedule
At the same time, the Indian women's team will play the quarterfinal match on 22 September. The semi-finals will be played on September 25 and the gold and bronze medal matches on September 26. The bronze medal match will be played between the two losing semi-finalists. Due to the ban on captain Harmanpreet, he will get a chance to play only in the final, that too will depend on Team India reaching the final. In his absence, Smriti Mandhana can take charge of the team.
Indian men's and women's cricket team top priority
The women's cricket competition will have a total of 14 matches. Whereas, there will be a total of 18 matches for men. Talking about the teams, 14 teams will participate in the women's category and 18 teams in the men's category. The seeding of the teams has been decided according to the ICC T20 rankings as of June 1, 2023. In this way, Indian women's and men's teams have got top priority. At the same time, apart from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have got direct entry in the quarter-finals in both men and women. The Pingfeng Cricket Ground of Zhejiang University of Technology will host all cricket matches, including men's and women's.
Indian men's cricket team may skip the opening ceremony
It will be interesting to see when the Indian men's team reaches the Games Village. According to media reports, the Indian men's team will not be present in the opening ceremony, as the Indian team's event will start about two weeks after that. The women's team can be present in the opening ceremony. It will also be a matter to be seen whether the Indian team stays at the Games Village or hotel arrangements will be made for them. According to media reports, arrangements may be made for the Indian men's team to stay in a five-star facility outside the Games Village.
Cricket for the third time in the Asian Games
This will be the third time that cricket will be a part of the Asian Games. Earlier in 2010 and 2014, India did not send either its men's or women's teams to the Asian Games. In the men's cricket competitions, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have won one gold medal each and in women's cricket, Pakistan has won both times.
The Indian men's team selected for the Asian Games has more IPL performers. In 2010 and 2014 BCCI did not send the team due to other commitments. This time the men's event will coincide with India's World Cup preparations, hence senior players are not being sent to this continental event.
Indian women's cricket team schedule for Asian Games 2023
22 September: Quarter-finals
September 25: Semi-finals (if qualified)
September 26: Final and bronze medal match (if qualified)
Indian men's cricket team schedule for Asian Games 2023
5 October: Quarter-finals
October 6: Semi-finals (if qualified)
October 7: Final (if qualified)
Men's team for Asian Games
Rituraj Gaikwad (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Verma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Shivam Mavi, Shivam Dubey, Prabhsimran Singh (wicket keeper).
Standby players: Yash Thakur, Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Sai Sudarshan.
Women's team for Asian Games
Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Shefali Verma, Jemima Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wicketkeeper), Amanjot Kaur, Devika Vaidya, Anjali Sarwani, Titas Sadhu, Rajeshwari Gaikwad, Minnu Mani, Kanika Ahuja, Uma Chhetri (wicket-keeper), Anusha Baredy.
Standby players: Harleen Deol, Kashvi Gautam, Sneh Rana, Sayka Ishaq, Pooja Vastrakar.

