The Asian Games-bound Indian men’s cricket team was given a reality check on Friday, as they lost a warm-up match against Karnataka. The match was played to give some match practice to the third-string Team India, who played sans their skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad. The men’s cricket competition at the Asiad is supposed to begin on September 27 and will conclude on October 7.
Meanwhile, playing against a side that lost in the quarter-finals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2022, Team India could only score 133/5 in their 20 overs. Prabhsimran Singh scored 49, while Yashaswi Jaiswal managed 31 runs. After electing to bat first, the team could not handle Karnataka medium pacer Manoj Bhandage, who returned with figures of 4/15. All this after, the two openers — Prabhsimran and Yashaswi gave them a solid start.
Thereafter, V Koushik and left-arm spinner Shubhang Hegde bagged three wickets each to wrap up the Indian innings. Rahul Tripathi, Jitesh Sharma, Rinku Singh, and Shivam Dube, all failed to impress with the bat. As far as the chase is concerned, Karnataka skipper Manish Pandey stayed at the wicket till the end, to take his side to victory. He made 52 from 40 balls, as Karnataka cruised home with six wickets and five balls to spare.
Meanwhile, Team India will start their campaign at the Asian Games on October 3, in the quarter-finals.
India Squad for Asian Games
Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mukesh Kumar, Shivam Dube, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Akash Deep
Also Read:
- Will win Asian Games gold again, says Tajinderpal Singh Toor
- Asian Games throwback with Jaspal Rana
- Important for Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty to be expressive on court: Mathias Boe
- Hope Sindhu is able to bounce back and give her best in Asian Games: Trupti Murgunde
- Hunger is what drives this Indian women’s rugby team
Editors pick
