'Win gold medal, stand on podium' Ruturaj Gaikwad proclaims ambitious goal for Asian Games

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the squad for the upcoming Asian Games 2023 which is set to begin from October 23, 2023, in Hangzhou, China. While Ruturaj Gaikwad has been handed over the captaincy of the Men's squad, Harmanpreet Kaur will lead the women's side. 

3 things you need to know 

• BCCI announced a 15-member squad for the Asian Games 2023 on Friday, July 14, 2023 
• The Indian team management announced many new faces in the 15-member squad for the Asian Games 2023 
• Five players have been kept as standby players in the Men's team squad 

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Ruturaj Gaikwad gives an ambitious message ahead of the Asian Games 2023 

Ruturaj Gaikwad who is currently a part of the Indian cricket team for the Test and ODI series against West Indies gave an ambitious message after being announced as the captain for the Men's cricket team for the upcoming Asian Games 2023. While speaking in a video uploaded by BCCI on their official Instagram handle.

🗣️ “𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒂𝒍, 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒅𝒊𝒖𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒚”

A happy and proud @Ruutu1331 is excited to lead #TeamIndia at the #AsianGames 😃 pic.twitter.com/iPZfVU2XW8

— BCCI (@BCCI) July 15, 2023

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Thankful for this opportunity from the BCCI and the management. Playing for India itself is a really proud feeling and leading the side in such a big event will be a great opportunity for me personally and also for the other team members who are alongside me. I think it will be great fun, to be honest, and we will be really gelling around well with each other for the last year. 

Gaikwad reflected on his time playing in the IPL, India A, and for Team Indi and believes that the Indian team players who are part of the squad will be excited to represent the country at the Asian Games.

(Ruturaj Gaikwad playing for the Chennai Super Kings in IPL; Image: BCCI/IPL)

Ruturaj Gaikwad added:

As an Indian fan, I think everyone has always been very supportive throughout, whatever the country plays for, any series or any World Cup, but I think this is something very special. I think we will play a brand of cricket where everyone back home will be proud, so do follow us and support us. The dream obviously would be to win the gold medal and stand on the podium and sing the national anthem for the country. 

Team India Squad for Asian Games 2023 

Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Shivam Mavi, Shivam Dube, Prabhsimran Singh (wk)

Standby players: Yash Thakur, Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Sai Sudarsan.