ANOTHER GOLD! With a bit of rain luck that washed the final against Afghanistan out mid-way, India were awarded the gold medal (it’s 23rd in total) on account of having a higher seeding in the league.

Rutu and his boys bowled first, and, as expected, applied the brakes on AFG’s batting prowess at timely intervals. However, Gulbadin Naib’s men managed to resurrect themselves to a score of 112/5 in 18.2 overs until the weather gods intervened.

Revisit India’s journey at the Asian Games 2022 Men's Cricket Competition with our consolidated updates here.

Final: IND vs AFG - As it happened

A power-play beginning for India

From the get-go, India asserted their dominance in the Gold medal match. Shivam Dube and Arshdeep Singh deployed landmines that unsettled Afghanistan’s batters. Coupled with the run-out of Noor Ali Zadran, the Men in Blue confined AFG to 27/3 inside the initial six overs.

‘If you can do that, so can I!’

Ravi Bishnoi and Shahbaz Ahmed had a couple of things common in the run-in to their prized wickets of Afsar Zazai (15) and Karim Janat (1) respectively: both spinners, both bowled the exact same delivery, both deliveries beat the inside edge of the opposing batters and crashed into the stumps.

Rain crashes in favour of INDIA

While Afghanistan were trying to revive their innings thanks to the partnership between Shahidullah Kamal (49*) and Gulbadin Naib (27*), the weather Gods intervened once again. This time, they didn’t give in, and thus, the match was ultimately called off, handing India the bragging rights.

Final score: India - DNB drew Afghanistan - 112/5 (18.2 overs) (Shahidullah Kamal 49*, Gulbadin Naib 27*; Shivam Dube 1/4) [India win Gold on account of being the higher-seeded team]

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Semi-final: IND vs BAN - As it happened

India spin their way to fantastic start

Toss won, field first, early wickets, confident smiles. That’s the kind of a start to Friday that the Indian side made against Bangladesh today. The spin duo of Washington Sundar (two wickets in one over) and Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore (one wicket) ripped into Bangladesh’s top order with their intricate bowling techniques and got the opponents reduced to 21/3 at the end of the powerplay.

TV’s Day Out

Tilak Varma had a delightful day out in the field, as he grabbed his first wicket of the Asian Games 2022 (Parvez Emon - 23 runs, 8.4 overs) and would later give a helping hand to Sai Kishore’s dismissal of Shahadat Hossain (5 runs, 10.3 overs) and Shahbaz Ahmed bagging his maiden T20I wicket (Rakibul Hasan - 14 runs, 16.6 overs).

Target locked: 97

Arshdeep Singh came to bowl the final over and wrapped it in style. His delivery took a fat top edge off Ripon Mondol’s bat and flew to Rinku Singh at mid-wicket. Bangladesh’s innings ended at 96/9, with Jaker Ali (24*) and Parvez Emon (23) the top run-getters.

A marathon run for Tilak and Gaikwad

Yashasvi Jaiswal’s early dismissal in the run chase posed no problem to India’s quest to qualify for the Gold match on Saturday. Tilak Varma (55*) entered the fray and combined with skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (40*) to power the Men in Blue to a convincing nine-wicket win over the neighbours. Amidst TV’s roadshow, Gaikwad lit some fireworks with an explosive third over - 6, 6, Wd, 4, 4, 0, 0 - against BAN’s Ripon Mondol.

Final score: India - 97/1 (Tilak Varma 55*, Ruturaj Gaikwad 40*; Ripon Mondol 1/26) BEAT Bangladesh - 96/9 (Jaker Ali 24*, Parvez Emon 23; Sai Kishore 3/12).

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Quarter-final: IND vs NEP - As it happened

Powerplay masterclass presented by Yashasvi Jaiswal

India, the overwhelming favourites in the first-ever IND vs NEP matchup on the international stage, batted first. And, knowing the length and breadth of the Zhejiang University of Technology Cricket Field oozed the opportunity to score runs on a whim, Yashasvi Jaiswal took up the offer. He slammed 44 runs in his initial 19 balls to 63/0 inside the powerplay. Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, meanwhile, was happy to play a patient sidekick.

50, 100 and the first speed breaker

In just his sixth T20I game, 21-year-old Yashasvi Jaiswal let out an aura of maturity every time he had the willow of his bat kiss the skin of the ball, and that eventually saw him notch his second T20I fifty in 22 balls.

Come the 10th over, India would eclipse the 100-run mark and the first wicket. Ruturaj Gaikwad toe-ended a Dipendra Singh delivery towards Rohit Paudel at deep mid-wicket and saw his 23-ball cameo of 25 runs end.

Couple of hits and misses and a century

While Tilak Varma (2) couldn't quite get going, debutant Jitesh Sharma got off the mark with a boundary before a misjudgement in shot selection led to a simple caught and bowled practice for experienced spinner Sandeep Lamichhane.

And in the 16th over, India got herself a new T20I centurion - and its first ever at the Asian Games - YASHASVI JAISWAL.

Target for Nepal: 203

Rinku Singh (37*) and Shivam Dube (25*) stitched a 51-run partnership for the fifth wicket as they helped India navigate after Jaiswal’s dismissal (100) to end their first innings at 202/4. This included an explosive 20th over worth 25 runs, which read 4-6-4-1-2wd-6-2.

Bishnoi’s triple strike

After Sai Kishore made in-roads by pocketing the scalp of Kushal Bhurtel (28), Ravi Bishnoi rubber-stamped his authority in the fixture with his triple raid on the Nepal batting order.

Overs 10.4: Lead Kushal Malla (29) to pull over the fence, caught by Rinku Singh

Overs 10.6: Plumb delivery to trap Rohit Paudel (3) for an LBW

Overs 14.2: Got Dipendra Singh (32) to mistime a lofted shot straight into Sai Kishore’s hands

Avesh-Arshdeep carnage in death overs

Pacers Avesh Khan and Arshdeep Singh took charge of the bowling for overs 16 to 20, and the assignment had a satisfactory outcome. They accounted for four wickets - two each for both bowlers - while shutting down the pockets of a possible Nepal comeback via Sandeep Jora (29) and Karan KC (18*).

The match ended with Nepal (179/9) falling short by 23 runs and India proceeding to the Asian Games 2022 semi-finals.

Final score: India - 202/4 (Yashasvi Jaiswal 100, Rinku Singh 37*; Dipendra Singh 2/31) BEAT Nepal - 179/9 (Dipendra Singh 32, Kushal Malla 29; Ravi Bishnoi 3/24)