‘India now a white-ball cricket superpower’: BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia after Asian Games Gold

Following India's gold medal win in men's cricket, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Devajit Saikia hailed the team's talent pool and dominance in limited-overs cricket, saying that India has become a superpower in white-ball cricket. 
 
Team India made history, delivering a double gold in cricket. After the women's team, the men's team beat Pakistan in the gold medal clash by 19 runs at the ongoing Asian Games on Saturday, on the back of heroic efforts from Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Verma and Axar Patel. With this, India has secured its 81st Asian Games medal, including 19th gold to the tally. India has also won 26 silver medals and 36 bronze medals already. Earlier, the Harmanpreet Kaur-led women's team had beaten Sri Lanka by 147 runs to win a gold medal in women's cricket. 
 
Speaking to ANI, Saikia said, "Very wonderful. India has now become a superpower in world white-ball cricket. We are winning every tournament. I think at the same time, our team played in ODIs against the West Indies, and today, here in the Asian Games as well. This shows how strong our reserve bench is right now in white-ball cricket."
 
Saikia hailed the team, saying that after winning the Asia Cup in men's and women's cricket, they have also secured Asian Games gold medals to assert their dominance. 
 
"All the players deserve full credit, and all the support staff deserve full credit for the victory. It has made the whole country very proud," he signed off. 
 
Currently, besides all the Asian level prizes, Team India holds the ICC Champions Trophy and the T20 World Cup title in men's cricket and the ICC U19 World Cup and ICC Women's U19 T20 World Cup in age-group cricket. In women's cricket, India sealed their landmark ICC Women's World Cup title win last year. 
 
India opted to bat first after winning the toss. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's blitz of 15 in nine balls, with two sixes, was a short-lived one, but Abhishek Sharma delivered an explosive fifty, scoring 61 in 28 balls, with three fours and seven sixes. 
 
Ishan Kishan (20) and skipper Shreyas Iyer (21) kept the ship steady, laying down the platform for Tilak (51* in 22 balls, with three fours and four sixes) and Shivam Dube (27* in 15 balls, with a four and two sixes) to take India to 211/6, with the pair putting up a 62-run stand for the sixth wicket. 
 
During the chase, Pakistan was down at 39/3, but Hasan Nawaz (96 in 51 balls, with five fours and seven sixes) fought, with Pakistan restricted to 192/6. 

Axar Patel and Washington (2/29) delivered sensational spells, while Shivam Dube (2/33) also took two wickets.