The Asian Games 2023 will kick off on September 23, 2023, in Hangzhou, China. The event will run until October 8, 2023.
A total of 40 sports are part of the Asian Games 2023, including cricket. And India will be sending both men’s and women’s cricket teams to participate in the prestigious tournament.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the squads of both the men’s and women’s teams. Following that, the schedule for the cricket event was also announced by the Asian Games authorities.
But before we take a look at the squads, let’s see when cricket was first played at the Asian Games.
Cricket in Previous Asian Games Editions
Now this is not the first time that cricket has been part of the Asian Games. Cricket will return to the 19th Asian Games after a gap of nine years.
Cricket featured in the Asian Games twice — first at Guangzhou 2010 and second at Incheon 2014.
In the 2010 Asian Games men’s event, Bangladesh won the gold medal by defeating Afghanistan in the final match. Meanwhile, Pakistan clinched bronze by defeating Sri Lanka.
In the women’s event, Pakistan won the gold medal by defeating Bangladesh, while Japan took the bronze medal.
At the 2014 Incheon Games, Sri Lanka finished first on the podium, bagging a gold medal. Afghanistan and Bangladesh won silver and bronze medals, respectively, in the men’s event.
While in the women’s event, Pakistan won the gold medal for the second time, with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka winning silver and bronze, respectively.
Now it will be interesting to see if the Indian cricket teams can manage to grab medals for the first time.
Cricket Format at Asian Games 2023
Like the previous editions, all the cricket matches will be played in the T20I format at the Asian Games 2023.
A total of 18 men’s teams will participate in the cricket event, while 14 women’s teams will feature in the tournament.
The men’s cricket event will see 18 matches, while the women’s cricket tournament will see 14 matches.
The top 4 ranked Asian teams in the ICC T20I ranking will directly play in the Quarterfinals. Meanwhile, other teams will fight it out in Round 1 to reach the Quarterfinals.
Then the winners of the Quarterfinals will play in the Semifinals. The winners of the Semifinals will play in the Final for the gold medal, while the losers will play in the bronze medal match.
Indian Men’s and Women’s Squads for Asian Games 2023
The BCCI will send a second-string men’s team to the event, as the senior team will be playing in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in India. Ruturaj Gaikwad will lead a young Indian team in the Asian Games 2023.
On the other hand, the board will send the senior women’s team to participate in the tournament. Harmanpreet Kaur will lead the women’s team, with some new faces making the team.
India Men’s Squad:
Ruturaj Gaikwad (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Mukesh Kumar, Shivam Mavi, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh
Standby players: Sai Kishore, Deepak Hooda, Sai Sudarsan, Yash Thakur, Venkatesh Iyer
India Women’s Squad:
Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Richa Ghosh (wk), Uma Chetry (wk), Anusha Bareddy, Amanjot Kaur, Devika Vaidya, Anjali Sarvani, Titas Sadhu, Minnu Mani, Kanika Ahuja
Standby players: Sneh Rana, Harleen Deol, Pooja Vastrakar, Saika Ishaque, Kashvee Gautam
Asian Games 2023: Cricket Schedule
The women’s cricket tournament will take place between September 19 and September 26. And the men’s cricket event will be played between September 28 and October 7.
All the matches are scheduled to take place at the Zhejiang University of Technology Pingfeng Cricket Field.
Women’s Schedule
| Date | Match No. | Session | Match | Phase | Time (Local) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 19 | 1 | CKT01 | 9th-14th | Round 1 | 09:30 |
| Sep 19 | 2 | CKT02 | 8th-13th | Round 1 | 14:30 |
| Sep 20 | 3 | CKT03 | 7th-10th | Round 1 | 09:30 |
| Sep 20 | 4 | CKT04 | 6th-11th | Round 1 | 14:30 |
| Sep 21 | 5 | CKT05 | 5th-12th | Round 1 | 09:30 |
| Sep 21 | 6 | CKT06 | Winner of Match 1 vs Winner of Match 2 | Winner of Match 1 vs Winner of Match 2 | 14:30 |
| Sep 22 | 7 | CKT07 | 1st vs Winner of Match 6 | QF1 | 09:30 |
| Sep 22 | 8 | CKT08 | 2nd vs Winner of Match 3 | QF2 | 14:30 |
| Sep 24 | 9 | CKT09 | 3rd vs Winner of Match 4 | QF2 | 09:30 |
| Sep 24 | 10 | CKT10 | 4th vs Winner of Match 5 | QF2 | 14:30 |
| Sep 25 | 11 | CKT11 | Winner of QF1 vs QF2 | SF1 | 09:30 |
| Sep 25 | 12 | CKT12 | Winner of QF3 vs QF4 | SF2 | 14:30 |
| Sep 26 | 13 | CKT13 | Loser of SF1 vs SF2 | 3/4 | 09:30 |
| Sep 26 | 14 | CKT14 | Winner of SF1 vs SF2 | Final | 14:30 |
Men’s Schedule
| Date | Match No. | Session | Match | Phase | Time (Local) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 28 | 1 | CKT15 | 9th-14th | Round 1 | 09:30 |
| Sep 28 | 2 | CKT16 | 8th-15th | Round 1 | 14:30 |
| Sep 29 | 3 | CKT17 | 10th-13th | Round 1 | 09:30 |
| Sep 29 | 4 | CKT18 | 7th-16th | Round 1 | 14:30 |
| Sep 30 | 5 | CKT19 | 11th-12th | Round 1 | 09:30 |
| Sep 30 | 6 | CKT20 | 6th-17th | Round 1 | 14:30 |
| Oct 1 | 7 | CKT21 | 5th-18th | Round 1 | 09:30 |
| Oct 1 | 8 | CKT22 | Winner of Match 1 vs Winner of Match 2 | Round 1 | 14:30 |
| Oct 2 | 9 | CKT23 | Winner of Match 3 vs Winner of Match 4 | Round 1 | 09:30 |
| Oct 2 | 10 | CKT24 | Winner of Match 5 vs Winner of Match 6 | Round 1 | 14:30 |
| Oct 4 | 11 | CKT25 | 2nd vs Winner of Match 8 | QF1 | 09:30 |
| Oct 4 | 12 | CKT26 | 3rd vs Winner of Match 9 | QF2 | 14:30 |
| Oct 5 | 13 | CKT27 | 4th vs Winner of Match 10 | QF3 | 09:30 |
| Oct 5 | 14 | CKT28 | 1st vs Winner of Match 7 | QF4 | 14:30 |
| Oct 6 | 15 | CKT29 | Winner of M11 vs M12 | SF1 | 09:30 |
| Oct 6 | 16 | CKT30 | Winner of M13 vs M14 | SF2 | 14:30 |
| Oct 7 | 17 | CKT31 | Loser of SF1 vs SF2 | 3/4 | 09:30 |
| Oct 7 | 18 | CKT32 | Winner of SF1 vs SF2 | Final | 14:30 |
Asian Games 2023 Broadcast and Live Streaming
Indian fans can enjoy the live broadcast on Sony Sports Network’s TV channels. Moreover, the broadcaster will also live stream the games on its app, Sony Liv.
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