On Friday, Chennai Super Kings' young batting sensation Ruturaj Gaikwad was named captain of the Indian cricket team for their Asian Games campaign. The event is set to ebgin on September 23 with the T20-format competition scheduled to begin on September 29 to October 8. Gaikwad will lead the Indian cricket team which will travel to China for the 19th Asian Games.
"Really thankful for this opportunity. Playing for India itself is a proud feeling. Leading the side in such a big event will be a great opportunity for me personally and also for all the other members. So really looking forward, really happy and obviously very proud," Gaikwad, who is currently with the Indian team for the ongoing West Indies tour, said in a video uploaded in the BCCI Twitter handle. (Asian Games 2023: Team India Possible Cricket Schedule At Event, When Can India Vs Pakistan Match Take Place)
Watch the video here:
A happy and proud @Ruutu1331 is excited to lead #TeamIndia at the #AsianGames pic.twitter.com/iPZfVU2XW8
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 15, 2023
"As Indian fans, everyone supports whatever sports the country is playing for. Any series or any World Cups but I think this is something special. We will definitely play a brand of cricket where everyone back home will be proud and it’ll also be exciting to watch. The dream obviously would be to win the gold medal, stand on the podium and singing the national anthem for our country," he added.
Stars who impressed in the IPL 2023 season Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Varma and Rinku Singh will join Gaikwad in the race for gold. While others like Yash Thakur, Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda and Sai Sudharsan are standbys. (Upset With Nitish Rana's Asian Games Snub, Wife Saachi Marwah Says ‘You Either Take...’)
I think it will great fun because we all are youngsters and we have been really gelling around well with each other since the last one or two years, playing the IPL against each other, playing the India A games. Then some India games as well so I think it’s a really fun group to be a part of and I think it will be really exciting for everyone who are part of the squad to represent the country in the Asian Games and obviously to win a medal for the country is something we always grew up watching on television and seeing athletes win it for the country. Obviously to get the opportunity to go out there and win the medal will be very, very special,” the 26-year-old who helped Chennai Super Kings to win their 5th IPL title, said.
Team India (Senior Men) 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 list of players: Yash Thakur, Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Sai Sudarsan.
