Asian Games 2023: Ruturaj Gaikwad To Lead Indian Cricket Team; IPL Stars Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube Rewarded

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The BCCI on Friday (July 14) announced a second-string senior men's Indian Cricket Team for the forthcoming Asian Games 2023, scheduled to be held in Hangzhou, China. The men's cricket competition - which will be held in T20 format - will begin on September 28 and conclude on October 8.

India batter Ruturaj Gaikwad has been appointed the captain of the young Indian side which features players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rahul Tripathi, Rinku Singh and Jitesh Sharma among others.

The newly-appointed chairman of selectors of the men's team, Ajit Agarkar, has chosen a B-team for the competition. The players who are picked up for the Asian Games will not be in contention for the ICC ODI World Cup 2023. The ODI World Cup starts on October 5.

Indian Cricket Team for Asian Games

The 15-member Indian side also features star pacer Arshdeep Singh along with Avesh Khan, Shivam Mavi and Mukesh Kumar. In Jitesh Sharma and Prabhsimran Singh, the Indian side will have two wicketkeeper-batters.

The spin department will be led by all-rounders Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed and Ravi Bishnoi. Shivam Dube - who had a phenomenal IPL 2023 for Chennai Super Kings - will also be making his comeback.

Yash Thakur, Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, and Sai Sudarsan have been named as the standby players. Hooda - who was part of the T20 World Cup 2022 side - has failed to completely impress the selectors and has been sidelined.

India squad for 19th Asian Games: Ruturaj Gaikwad (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Shivam Mavi, Shivam Dube, Prabhsimran Singh (wk)

Standby players: Yash Thakur, Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Sai Sudarsan.

The Senior Women's Cricket Team has also been announced by the selectors for the women's cricket competition which will take place between September 19 and 28 in the T20 format. In stark contrast to the Men in Blue, the BCCI has decided to send a strong Women in Blue squad for the quadrennial event.

Indian women won a silver medal in the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham after losing to Australia in the gold-medal match and will be aiming to win the yellow mettle in the continental event.

Indian Women's Cricket Team for 19th Asian Games

Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Amanjot Kaur, Devika Vaidya, Anjali Sarvani, Titas Sadhu, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Minnu Mani, Kanika Ahuja, Uma Chetry (wk), Anusha Bareddy.

Standby list of players: Harleen Deol, Kashvee Gautam, Sneh Rana, Saika Ishaque, Pooja Vastrakar.