Asian Games 2023: India's strongest predicted XI

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the Indian team for Asian Games 2022 to be played in Hangzhou. Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has played only 10 games in the international circuit, will be leading the side. Ahead of the team announcement, Shikhar Dhawan was expected to be the skipper of the team but the selectors snubbed the veteran by not including him in the squad.

As the tournament will be played in the T20 format, the selectors have picked up players who have played cricket in the Indian Premier League (IPL). In the competition, these names will be expected to be at their best and clinch the gold medal for the country. From the 15-member India squad, 11 players are favourites to make a solid India XI in the tournament.

Here is India’s strongest XI for Asian Games 2023

1. Ruturaj Gaikwad (c)

Ruturaj Gaikwad will lead the pack in the tournament and his responsibility will be to play his part excellently with his batting and leadership skills. As a batter, he will have to provide fierce starts to the team with his spunky batting style. His T20 International (T20I) batting numbers are not decent so far as the right-handed batter has scored only 135 runs in eight innings of nine matches.

In the T20I match against South Africa in Vishakhapatnam in June 2022, he smashed his maiden half-century. This year, the adept opener looked incredible for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 2023, scoring 590 runs in 16 matches at a strike rate of 147.50.

Talking about his overall batting numbers in the cash-rich league, the 26-year-old has notched up 1797 runs in 52 matches at a strike rate of 135.52. In the Asian Games, Gaikwad will have to lead from the front to help India leave an impact in the tournament.