‘Asi post 19 Nov ko bhi chahiye King’ – Fans react as Virat Kohli hails Indian women’s cricket team for winning gold at Asian Games 2023 

Former India captain Virat Kohli took to his social media handle to congratulate the Indian women’s cricket team for winning a historic gold medal at the 2023 Asian Games. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side defeated Sri Lanka by 19 runs in the final at the Pingfeng Campus Cricket Field in Hangzhouon on Monday, September 25. Defending a respectable total of 116 runs in challenging conditions, the Women in Blue restricted Sri Lanka to 97/8 in 20 overs.

India, who elected to bat first, got off to a poor start as opener Shafali Verma departed early on. However, on the back of a brilliant second-wicket partnership between Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues for the second wicket, they got their authority. The duo stitched a 73-run partnership before top-scorer Mandhana’s (46 off 45) dismissal in the 15th over.

Rodrigues (42 off 40) hung in there till the final over of the innings, but she did not get enough support from the other end, resulting in India being restricted to 116/7. Sri Lanka, in reply, had a horror start as Titas Sadhu did some serious damage at the very start of their innings. The 18-year-old broke the backbone of the Lankan batting unit and finished with the figures of 4-1-6-3. Rajeshwari Gayakwad claimed two wickets, while Devika Vaidya, Pooja Vastrakar and Deepti Sharma took one wicket each in India’s convincing victory.

Fans expect similar dominance from Indian men’s team

Kohli, who is currently a part of the Indian men’s team that competes against Australia in the final ODI of the three-match series in Rajkot, posted a two-word tweet to praise the Indian women’s epic win. “History-makers” – the cricketer captioned a picture of the Indian women’s cricket team posing with their gold medals.

Meanwhile, the Indian men’s team will begin their 2023 Asian Games campaign on October 3. The Ruturaj Gaikwad-led side will be directly playing in the quarter-finals of the event. The Indian Cricket Board has picked a second-string squad for the tournament in a bid to give the young talents an opportunity to prove their mettle.

Check out Virat Kohli’s post and how fans reacted:

https://twitter.com/imVkohli/status/1706898505560981624?s=20

bhut busy ho bhai. abhi time mila???

— Utkarsh Singh Rudra (@imutkarshrudra) September 27, 2023

Let's hope that you make history in this World Cup too !!

— Rambo (@sniggy1992) September 27, 2023

https://twitter.com/peaky_balvinder/status/1706902635029393504

https://twitter.com/BreatheKohli/status/1706905221014929503

https://twitter.com/bholination/status/1706901289601487238

https://twitter.com/sigma__male_/status/1706899451741433934

https://twitter.com/JohnyBravo183/status/1706898789003604041

https://twitter.com/RamRohitReddy/status/1706899266474775022

Time for you to make history as well pic.twitter.com/grRyRSrCL1

— Ansh Shah (@asmemesss) September 27, 2023