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Sri Lanka faces India’s IPL mine for gold

By Susil Premalal

Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have advanced directly to the semi-finals of the men’s T20 cricket competition at the 20th Asian Games in Japan after rain disrupted the scheduled quarter-final matches.

Accordingly, the first semi-final between Pakistan and Bangladesh is scheduled for 5.30 am Sri Lanka time tomorrow and Sri Lanka will face India in the second semi-final at 10.30 am. Both matches are scheduled to be played at the Nisshin ground in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.

The men’s T20 cricket competition featured 10 Asian countries and was affected by rain. The scheduled quarter-final matches between Sri Lanka and Nepal and India and Afghanistan were abandoned without a ball being bowled.

According to the Asian Games T20 cricket rules and regulations, Sri Lanka advanced from the Sri Lanka-Nepal match, while India advanced from the India-Afghanistan match, with both teams receiving a walkover into the semi-finals.

The 10 participating countries were Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Oman and Japan.

At the previous Asian Games in 2022, Sri Lanka finished in joint fifth place. India won the gold medal, Afghanistan the silver medal and Bangladesh the bronze medal. Sri Lanka will face an opposition filled with Indian Premier League (IPL) pros.

Meanwhile, in the recently concluded women’s T20 cricket competition at the 20th Asian Games, India won the gold medal, Sri Lanka the silver medal and Pakistan the bronze medal.

Sri Lanka squad: Sahan Arachchige (captain), Lasith Croospulle, Niroshan Dickwella (WK),Sineth Jayawardena, Nuwanidu Fernando, Sohan de Livera, Ashen Bandara, Chamika Karunaratne, Tharindu Ratnayake, Wanuja Sahan, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Dushan Hemantha, Nuwan Thushara, Binura Fernando and Garuka Sanketh

India squad: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma, Vipraj Nigam, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi