Mahendranagar, 3 October

Nepal's dream of playing the semi-final of T20 cricket in the 19th Asian Games is incomplete after losing to India by 23 runs.

Chasing the challenging target of 203 runs given by India in the match in China on Tuesday morning, Nepal could score only 179 runs by losing 9 wickets in the scheduled 20 overs. With this defeat, Nepal's chances of winning a medal in cricket have also ended.

The Nepali team, which reached the quarter-finals with excellent performance in the group stage, failed to reach the final four when the Nepalese team performed moderately.

Against India, 8 batsmen who were in the mood to play long shots were caught out when the players lost patience.

Karan KC 18 and Avinas Bohora remained not out for zero runs. Karan hit 2 sixes and 1 four off 13 balls.

Openers Kushal Bhurtel and Ashif Shaikh shared a partnership of 29 runs for the first wicket. Ashif, who scored 10 runs, was caught out by the wicketkeeper in 3.4 overs by Avesh Khan.

Another opener Kushal Bhurtel returned to the pavilion for 28 runs. Bhurtel was caught out by Avesh Khan off Cy Kishor in 8.5 overs. Bhurtel, who faced 32 balls, hit 4 fours and 1 six. Kushal Malla was caught out for 29 runs. Kushal Malla, who faced 22 balls, hit 2 fours and 2 sixes.

After losing Malla in the fourth ball of the 11th over, Nepal also lost captain Rohit Paudel in the last ball of the same over. Captain Rohit, who scored 3 runs in 5 balls, was caught LBW by Ravi Vishnoi.

In the second ball of the 15th over, Nepal lost all-rounder Dipendra Singh Airi. Dipendra, who scored 32 runs in 15 balls with 4 fours, was caught out by Sai Kishore off Ravi Vishnoi.

Nepal has lost Sandeep Zora as the sixth wicket. Sandeep who scored 29 runs by hitting 1 four and 3 sixes in 12 balls was caught out.

Sompal Kami 7, Gulsan Jha 6, and Sandeep Lamichhane were caught out for 5 runs.

Before that, India batted after winning the toss at the Zhejiang University of Technology Cricket Field and scored 202 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in the allotted 20 overs.

India's Shivam Dubey remained not out on 25 runs and Rinku Singh on 35 runs. Duve hit 2 fours and 1 six off 19 balls. Singh, who faced 14 balls, hit 2 fours and 4 sixes and remained not out for 35 runs.

Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and captain Rituraj Gaikwad gave India an aggressive start with a partnership of 103 runs in 9.5 overs.

Jaiswal, who batted aggressively against Nepal, was caught out for 100 runs. Jaiswal hit 8 fours and 7 sixes in 48 balls to score a century against Nepal.

All-rounder Dipendra Singh Airi got the first success for Nepal, who were struggling for wickets. Dipendra broke the partnership by catching the opener and captain Rituraj Gaikwad for 25 runs from the hands of captain Rohit Paudel in the last ball of the 10th over.

In the fourth ball of the 12th over, Sompal Kami bowled out Tilak Bum for 2 runs. In the last ball of the 13th over, leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane cut and bowled Jitesh Sharma, who scored 5 runs, to the pavilion.

Dipendra sent Jaiswal to the pavilion after being caught out by Abhinash Bohora in the second ball of the 17th over.

Dipendra Singh Airi took 2 wickets for Nepal. Sompal Kami and Sandeep Lamichhane took 1 wicket each.

Nepal and India faced each other for the first time in T20Is.

In Asiad, India made it directly to the quarter-finals, while Nepal became the winner of Group A and reached the last 8.

Nepal won a record 273 runs against Mongolia in the first match of the group stage. In the second match, Nepal defeated Maldives by 138 runs.