On Monday (September 4), Team India further demonstrated that cricket is a gentleman’s game. Following their play in Pallekele at the current Asia Cup 2023, the Men in Blue thought of a kind gesture for Nepal.
The battle was a David vs. Goliath confrontation between the two teams. Few people anticipated Nepal would challenge India, which happens to be one of the world’s top teams, in a competitive match. While Team India is the most successful side in the competition’s history, Nepal was participating at the Asia Cup for the very first time ever.
It’s hardly unexpected that many anticipated a one-sided match, especially in light of Nepal’s disappointing showing versus Pakistan earlier within the competition.
Nepal give tough fight before eventually losing out
The cricketing community, however, had a shock when Nepal shocked everyone by competing with India. Nepal managed to score 230 runs, which was a respectable total helped by India’s poor fielding. Before India dismantled them to 144 for 6, their openers had scored 65 runs over the first wicket. However, the bottom order played brilliantly to push the total above 200 runs.
Nepal got off to a strong start with the ball as well. Prior to Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill ultimately calming down and leading India to an impressive 10-wicket victory (DLS method), speedster Karan KC had India’s captain in all kinds of difficulty early on. India easily reached the goal after being given a revised score of 145 within 23 overs.
And following the conclusion of the game, squad India’s stars made a kind gesture for the Nepali squad. The squad members and coach congratulated the Nepali team in addition to sharing their experiences with them. Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, and coach Rahul Dravid among others gave awards to Nepal players who excelled throughout the match. Other Indian team members like Suryakumar Yadav was also present for this.
Fans react to Indian players awarding medals to Nepal players after impressive performance during Asia Cup 2023:
Indian players felicitated Nepal players for giving a tough fight.
A superb gesture by India!pic.twitter.com/X9PQmkpfKk
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) September 5, 2023
surely Nepalese will be inspired to play for National team
— anees ur rehman (@an33s) September 5, 2023
Absolute class from the Indian cricket team by offering goodwill gestures to Nepal after the match. ?
Cricket at it’s peak. ?
— Ameer Hamza Asif (@AmeerHamzaAsif) September 5, 2023
It must be so much motivating for Nepal. These players are so promising ??
— ????????!??_?? (@bholination) September 5, 2023
Such nice gesture by players. pic.twitter.com/j9gDzaFd07
— Sunny ? (@being_sunny1) September 5, 2023
this is some motivation man..this gesture will surely increase the morale of this very young Nepali team ?
very well played?
— ??????? (@Oyye_Senpai) September 5, 2023
India is forever indebted to Nepal for giving us a street food that's not deep fried in crude oil… thanks nepal ?
— Apratim. (@subtlysomebody) September 5, 2023
Great gesture by Team India ??
— Telugu Digi (@TeluguDz) September 5, 2023
Not same but it's literally this ?? pic.twitter.com/RQ4fA4IM41
— Indian Elon (@elonifiedmusk) September 5, 2023
Big Heart of India??
— Aaliya? (@Aaliyaxsingle) September 5, 2023
Indians love to do copy/paste thing’s ?? pic.twitter.com/p5JheWjcaT
— Hassan Nawaz (@iam_hassan56) September 5, 2023
