Budding cricket talents who'll be closely watched in Hangzhou

New Delhi, Sep 17 (IANS) From September 19 to October 8, India’s men’s and women’s cricket teams will be participating at the T20 event of the Asian Games at the Zhejiang University of Technology Pingfeng Cricket Field in Hangzhou, China.

It will be the first time that India will be participating in a cricket event in the Asian Games after missing the last two occasions -- 2010 and 2014. IANS takes a look at three rising Indian players from both men’s and women’s teams one should watch out for in the competition:

Yashasvi Jaiswal

The impressive left-handed opener can turn out to be the team’s trump card in their quest of winning the gold at the Asian Games. A stunning domestic season and IPL 2023 saw him make his Test and T20I debuts on the tour of the West Indies. His Test debut at Dominica was stellar, where he smashed a superb 171. In the fourth T20I at Lauderhill, Jaiswal showed his attacking prowess to score an unbeaten 84.

Tilak Varma

Just like Jaiswal, Tilak’s fortunes have been on the rise in the last few months, after grabbing eyeballs with stellar performances for Mumbai Indians in the last two seasons of the IPL. The southpaw made his T20I debut against the West Indies at Tarouba where he scored a quickfire 22-ball 39, and followed it with a fifty in the next game, though India lost on both occasions. The performances led to his selection for the Asia Cup, where he got his maiden ODI cap against Bangladesh.

Ravi Bishnoi

The attacking leg-spinner did well for India in T20Is since his debut in February 2022, but missed out on a T20 World Cup selection. Nevertheless, Bishnoi was back in the national frame after a productive season for the Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2023. Though he played just one game in the West Indies, Bishnoi came back to pick four wickets in two T20Is against Ireland.

Jemimah Rodrigues

2023 has been a year where Jemimah has shined a lot more with her performances in white-ball matches for India. In India’s opening match of the Women’s T20 World Cup, Jemimah helped India get over the line in a chase of 150 against Pakistan with her unbeaten 38-ball 53, laced with eight fours, at a strike rate of 139.47.

In July, she starred with a superb all-round performance - a quickfire 86 with the bat and four wickets with the ball - to help India level the three-game ODI series with a huge 108-run win over Bangladesh in Dhaka.

Amanjot Kaur

The pace bowling all-rounder had a dream T20I debut in January, staying unbeaten on 41 off 30 balls and being named Player of the Match in India’s victory against South Africa at the Buffalo Park. In July, she picked 4/31 in nine overs to register the second-best bowling figures by an Indian on ODI debut against Bangladesh in Dhaka, thus paving the way for her to be the lone pacer all-rounder in the side’s campaign in the Asian Games.

Minnu Mani

The off-spin bowling all-rounder became the first woman from the state of Kerala to play for the Indian team when she made her debut against Bangladesh in the first T20I in Dhaka in 2023, scalping 1/21. In the three-game series, Minnu went on to pick five wickets averaging 11.60, something which played a crucial role in her getting a slot in the Asian Games squad.