China are all set to hosts the Asian Games 2023. The men's cricket team will be participating too as cricket returns to Asian Games after nine years. However, it will be interesting to see how China fares against the big teams, especially after they got all out for just 26 against Thailand in ICC Men's T20 World Cup Asia B Qualifier.
After Thailand skipper Akshaykumar Yadav won the toss and opted to field first, China's batting lineup collapsed like a pack of cards. Not a single batter could score in double digits. As many as six Chinese batters got out for ducks. Opener Wei Guo Lei was the top-scorer for China as he scored eight runs from 16 balls. Lei scored the only boundary of the innings. Thailand's Nopphon Senamontree took a four-fer whereas Robert Raina took three wickets.
Defending a lowly total, Wang Qi got Thailand opener Satarut Rungrueang for a four-ball duck. But Sorawat Desungnoen and skipper Akshaykumar made short work of the target as they chased it down from 4.1 overs. Thailand registered a massive nine-wicket victory with 95 balls to spare.
However, this is not China's lowest T20I score in the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup Asia B Qualifier. Malaysia's Syazrul Idrus took a record-breaking seven-fer to bundle out China for 23 from 11.2 overs. Malayasia chased down the target with eight wickets in hand and 91 balls to spare.
China will face Bhutan in their next encounter on July 30 followed by Myanmar on July 31. It will be interesting to see whether they will be able to cross the 50-run mark in the next two games.
Meanwhile, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have selected a second-string side led by Ruturaj Gaikwad to the Asian Games 2023 as the senior side will be busy preparing for ODI World Cup 2023.
India’s 15-member squad: 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 list of players: Yash Thakur, Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Sai Sudarsan
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