India 202 for 4 wickets (Jaiswal 100, Rinku 37*, Airi 2-31) defeated Nepal 179 for 9 for 23 runs (Ari 32, Zora 29, Avesh 3-32, Bishnoi 3-24)
Nepal eventually scored 179 for 9 and performed brilliantly to complete their dream run, which has taken them to the World Cup Qualifiers, Asia Cup and now the Asian Games.
Gaikwad fights, Jaiswal flies
India chose to bat and immediately discovered that the surface was not an easy one to execute strokes on. The deliveries were halting, there was spongy bounce and the batsmen were unable to cross the line. Yet, Jaiswal took the pitch out of the equation – cutting, pulling and hitting terrifying sixes down the ground. When he brought up his half-century on his 22nd ball, Ruturaj Gaikwad was on 14 off 17, escaping a few LBW shouts and looking increasingly excited to take release shots. India had the platform at 96 for 0 in nine overs.
Recession…
Rinku plays the role of finisher
Shivam Dubey continuously gave strikes to Jaiswal, who completed his century in 48 balls. A scoop that went almost all the way saw him celebrate the historic achievement with enthusiasm, only for the umpires to signal four, which meant he needed one more. He quietly pushed the next one down the leg side to celebrate again. A ball later, he was out to Airy slicing a full toss at short third. India’s score was 150 runs for 3 wickets in 16.2 overs. Rinku, like the players who came before her, took some time to get going, but soon found her hitting range. He hit three sixes and two fours and scored 37 runs in 15 balls, as India finished at 202 for 4; Dubey’s contribution remained 25 consecutively.
Sai Kishore left a mark with teary eyes
When the national anthem was played, Sai Kishore could not control his tears, but with the ball in his hand, he bowled like an experienced player. He cleverly varied his pace and angles around the wicket to deny Kushal Bhurtail and Kushal Malla. His first two overs cost only eight, and in the third, he got his first T20I wicket when Bhurtel, who was in a very dangerous position, picked out short fine leg in an attempt to scoop a ball that did not have enough pace. Was. In the next few overs, Nepal lost two more overs to Bishnoi, sending the innings into freefall.
Ari, Zora gave hope to Nepal
Even though India’s spinners dominated the batsmen, the fast bowlers kept throwing the ball here and there. Airy revived Nepal’s hopes of a robbery by taking Dubey to the cleaners in the 14th over for a sequence of 0,6,6,6,2,1. They needed 83 runs in six overs with six wickets left. But Bishnoi asked Airy to pull a length ball to long-on, which was bouncing a little more than he expected. When Jora was out in the next over for 29 runs in 12 balls, you thought the game was over. The lower order then had some fun as Arshdeep and Avesh lost their lengths, but by then it was just a question of how close Nepal would get.
Shashank Kishore is senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo