Hangzhou: Riding on Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 49-ball century followed by a scintillating bowling display from Avesh Khan and Ravi Bishnoi, India beat Nepal by 23 runs to enter the semifinal, at the 19th Asian Games, here on Tuesday.
Yashasvi smashed 100 off 49 balls, his maiden century in T20Is, and became the youngest Indian to score a T20I ton 21 years and 279 days, surpassing the previous record held by Shubman Gill, who had scored a century against New Zealand at the age of 23 years and 146 days.
India won the toss and chose to bat, with Yashasvi showcasing an exceptional performance during the powerplay. He aggressively took on the bowlers from the very beginning and forged a century-opening stand with skipper skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad.
However, Ruturaj appeared a bit rusty, getting dismissed for 23-ball 25. It was Jaiswal’s stellar performance that laid the groundwork for India initially in the innings.
Tilak Varma and Jitesh Sharma, respectively, were also dismissed cheaply. Then, Rinku and Shivam Dube established 52-run stand with former gave the finishing touch with his knock of unbeaten 37 off 15, powering India to a total of 200-plus.
In reply, the Nepal openers began steadily but failed to make a significant impact during the powerplay. Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee and Sundeep Jora chipped in with handy cameos, but it was evident that their efforts wouldn’t suffice.
Avesh and Bishnoi picked three wickets each, while Sai Kishore had a good enough debut as he picked a wicket and he also took three catches as India restricted Nepal to 179-9 in 20 overs to seal the 23-run win.
In the semi-final, India will face the winner of the Bangladesh-Malaysia quarter-final on Friday.
Brief scores: India 202/4 in 20 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 100, Rinku Singh 37; Dipendra Singh2-31) beat Nepal 179/9 in 20 overs ( Kushal Malla 22, Sundeep Jora 22; Ravi Bishnoi 3-22, Avesh Khan 3-32) by 23 runs .
(IANS)
