Cricket medals conceivable in spite of the presence of India
Updated Date: 17th July, 2023
With the Lankan athletes upstaging the track arena, the Asian Games would also have a demand on the TV channels in spite of the overlapping of the ICC World Cup 2023, during the latter part of the grandeurs show.
Of all conceivable destinations especially in cricket, China is soon becoming a regular parking place in Asian Games. China is the location where cricket as an Asian Games Medal Sport was put into practice in 2010 and a decade later, it becomes the third occasion that cricket put on a show from 23 September to 8 October 2023. The Asian Games were originally scheduled for 2022, but the Covid-19 outbreak in China caused a delay in this game. Cricket will be one of the 37 sports to be played at the 2022 Asian Games.
The format of the games will be T-20, at the Zhejiang University of Technology Cricket Field from 24 September – 7 October 2023.
Though cricket is certainly a feature at the Asian Games, especially cricket is shrouded with attention being focused upon the ICC World Cup which is scheduled to be hosted by India from 5 October to 19 November 2023. As a result, especially from the full member states from the Asian region will try to shield their top second-string players in a bid to strengthen their respective benches.
At the last Asian Games, in which cricket was part in Incheon, South Korea in 2014, the Lankan men's cricket team defeated Afghanistan to win the gold medal. The men’s team was led by Lahiru Thirimanne, while the Sri Lankan women's team won the bronze medal by defeating China in the third-place match. The team was captained by Chamari Atapattu.
As for India, who opted to give a miss to the 2014 version, have decided to join in a bid for the gold and former international batsman Shikhar Dhawan is expected to lead the Indian men's cricket team.
The Lankan team are the incumbent defenders of the men’s Asian Games cricket gold while the women’s team is defending the Bronze medal. However, the Lankan authorities have picked a 22-member team in preparation for the games, but, the final 15 members who would really take the flight, would be revealed much later as a result of the above-mentioned reasons.
As for the women’s team, it seems they would like to move up from the bronze status. In recent times, the Lankan women’s team under Chamari Atapattu, who would lead the side to Hangzhou in all probabilities, has elevated to be the top batswoman in the world ranking at present and the set of ladies are also brimming with confidence.
For this Asian cricket challenge, eleven countries will be in the fray with – Current Gold Medal title winner - Sri Lanka, followed by India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Malaysia, South Korea, and hosts China.
However, hosts have left a stone unturned to make this a memorable experience with the matches being staged at Zhejiang University of Technology (Pingfeng Campus) where the Cricket Field is, as the name suggests, hidden in this Liuxia-based campus.
Zhejiang University of Technology (Pingfeng Campus) Cricket Field is designed as an oval field with a long axis of 150m and a short axis of 120m based on the current terrain of the campus. It covers an area of about 13,500m2, the size of two standard football fields, with 4 strips. The organisers also have kept the varies of rain during the games and have made elaborate provisions for the drainage system. Moreover, a rainwater recycling and treatment system is set up beneath the field, collecting rainwater to water the plants after filtering.
