Cricket: India enter Super Four stage of Asia Cup with 10-wicket victory over Nepal in Kandy, Sri Lanka

India enters super fours in the Asia Cup 2023 defeating Nepal by 10 wickets in a rain curtailed match at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. The men in blue chased down the revised target of 145 runs with 17 balls to spare. Winning the toss, Skipper Rohit Sharma chose to bowl first. Nepal was off to a decent start reaching 65 runs within the first 10 overs. Nepal was helped in part by some under-par fielding by India and at least three dropped catches within the first five overs. Indian bowlers applied brakes on the Nepali innings with regular wickets, to bowl them out for 230 runs. Aasif Sheikh top scored for Nepal with 58 runs with useful contributions from Kushal Bhurtel and Sompal Kami. Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj picked 3 wickets each.

In reply, the opening pair of Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma started well, reaching 17 runs in 2.1 overs before rain interruption reduced the target to 145 runs in 23 overs. The unbroken stand of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill helped India score 147 runs in 20.1 overs. Rohit Sharma top-scored for India with 74 runs while Shubman Gill made 67.

Arch rivals India and Pakistan will lock horns on 10th of September in their Super Four encounter at R Premadasa stadium in Colombo. The previous match featuring the two sides was washed out by rain.