Asian Games Hangzhou: Team India Official Cricket Squad List

Ruturaj Gaikwad to lead a young squad as we look at the complete official squad details for the India Cricket team for Asian Games Hangzhou 2023. 

For the first time in Indian cricket history, Team India would be a part of the historic Asian Games. The 19th edition of the Asian Games will be held in Hangzhou, China will see Cricket as one of the official games in the tournament. Cricket has been a part of the Asian Games twice before, but this is the first time India will be a part of it. 

The Asian Games 2022-2023, which will be held in China from September 19 to October 8 will see Team India sending an official 15-member squad for the tournament. The squad will be led by 26-year-old Ruturaj Gaikwad, who will be Captaining India for the first time in his career directly in a major tournament. 

The squad sees a young team similar to what we had seen T20 World Cup 2007, which was also led by 26-year-old MS Dhoni for the first time in his career. Another reason for Team India to send a Strong B side is that the tournament partially collides with the ODI World Cup 2023, hence a lot of T20 Specialists won’t be available.

Team India Squad Overview:

Talking about the team, Team India have selected Rahul Tripathi, Rinku Singh, Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, and Yashasvi Jaiswal as the primary batters in the squad. Whereas Wicket-keeping duties shall rely on opener Prabsimran Singh and finisher Jitesh Sharma.

For the All-rounders, India have chosen three names in the form of Shahbaz Ahmed, Shivam Dube, and Washington Sundar. While Shahbaz and Washington Sundar are spin all-rounders, Shivam Dube remains the only pace all-rounder in the side with Hardik not there. 

In the bowling department, India have Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar, and Akash Deep (Replaced Shivam Mavi) as the primary pacers in the squad. Whereas spin duties shall be led by Ravi Bishnoi with support from Washington Sundar and Shahbaz Ahmed. So, here’s the official 15-member squad for Team India for the Asian Games 2023. 

Asian Games 2023 – Official Squad for India Cricket Team:

Batters: Rahul Tripathi, Rinku Singh, Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Tilak Varma & Yashasvi Jaiswal

WKs: Jitesh Sharma & Prabsimran Singh

All-rounders: Shahbaz Ahmed, Shivam Dube & Washington Sundar

Bowlers: Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar, Ravi Bishnoi

In addition, Team India have kept 3 backups in the form of batter Sai Sudharsan, spin all-rounder Deepak Hooda, pace all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer, spinner Sai Kishore, and pacer Yash Thakur. These five may be available if any of the existing 15 members are ruled out for whatsoever reason.

Asian Games Hangzhou 2023 Cricket Format

Men’s Cricket in Asian Games will see a total of 18 teams participating in the tournament. However, India will directly play in the Quarter finals being one of the top four teams. For India, every match will be a knock-out with a Quarter-final first, then a Semi-final, and then 3rd place fight or Final. 

Given the format for Men’s Cricket in the Asian Games shall be T20, India would be without their primary T20 Captain, Hardik Pandya. This particular team has a lot of uncapped players, hence they would need some match practice together. With the Ireland T20 series lined up next month, we should see all of these players in contention for the tour.  

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