Jaiswal lights up Hangzhou with 49-ball 100 as India seal semis spot

Yashavi Jaiswal has had a memorable 2023 already. In May, he smashed the fastest half century in the LPL off just 13 balls. In July, his old-school 171 in Dominica, which lasted 501 minutes and 387 balls, was the longest by an Indian Test debutant. Two months on, in Hangzhou, at a ground that may have reminded him of the Mumbai maidans in terms of dimensions, he became the youngest Indian to smash a T20I century as India entered the semi-finals of the men’s competition at the Asian Games by getting the better of Nepal by 23 runs.

Jaiswal’s onslaught was an exhibition of skilled hitting, not mindless slogging, as he made exactly 100 in 49 balls. The knock that contained eight fours and seven sixes was a key driver to India’s 202 for 4. They looked like getting a lot more, but suffered a middle-overs collapse before Rinku Singh’s  sixes gave the finishing kick.

Nepal proved they were no pushovers with a late cameo from Sundeep Jora bringing the equation down to 56 off 24. At this point, they’d hit more sixes (12) than fours (nine), but in looking to keep going, they kept losing wickets.

A little more support from one of the top order batters may have helped them pull off a massive upset. That they were stymied was largely down to Ravi Bishoni’s bag of variations that includes a skiddy googly as a stock ball and a flipper that fizzes through the deck. His 3 for 24 through those middle overs made the task steep for Nepal. The importance of Bishnoi’s spell was amplified even more after the fast bowlers took a beating; their combined figures read 11-0-112-5.

Nepal eventually ended with 179 for 9, bowing out with a creditable performance to culminate a dream run that took them to the World Cup Qualifiers, Asia Cup and now the Asian Games

Brief scores:
India 202 for 4 in 20 overs (Yashavi Jaiswal 100, Rinku Singh 37*, Dipendra Singh Airee 2-31) beat Nepal 179 for 9 in 20 overs  (Dipendra Singh Airee 32, Sundeep Jora 29, Avesh Khan 3-32, Ravi Bishnoi 3-24) by 23 runs