India in Asian Games 2023: Chinese cricket fan Jun Yu traveled 1200 km from Beijing to Hangzhou to watch “Goddess Mandhana” in action during 2023 Asian Games. India’s women’s cricket team vice-captain Smriti Mandhana won a historic gold medal at the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou. India women’s cricket team (116/7) defeated Sri Lanka women’s cricket team (97/8) by 19 runs in Women’s T20I final to clinch their first-ever gold medal in cricket at Asian Games. Smriti Mandhana (46) and Jemimah Rodrigues (42 runs) were the pick of batters while 18-year-old pacer Titas Sadhu bagged three wickets. 

A Smriti Mandhana fan in Hangzhou, China. pic.twitter.com/eE3VOEjiQr

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) September 26, 2023

A Smriti Mandhana fan in Asian Games.#AsianGames2023 pic.twitter.com/816SNsVnZO

— Himanshu Pareek (@Sports_Himanshu) September 25, 2023

“I saw Jasprit Bumrah’s spell against Australia in the 2019 World Cup, I follow both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. They are the current greats of the game. Then, there is Suryakumar Yadav and Jaspreet Bumrah. Bumrah was extraordinary against Australia in the 2019 World Cup,” Yu told when PTI caught up with him after the gold medal match.

“Cricket lessons are given in my university in Beijing. So, I know a little bit of it,” said Yu.

In fact, Yu gave some interesting insight about the cricket arena for the Games, which was actually a flower garden only some time back.

“There is not much cricket in China, very few cricket venues, very few people play it and many even don’t know how it is played. Only Guangzhou, where cricket was played during the 2010 Asian Games has a permanent cricket stadium. It’s because of historical reasons,” he said. Yu was one among the motley crowd who turned up at the Pingfeng cricket field at the Zhejiang University of Technology campus here. The venue is not a proper cricket stadium.

“I don’t play cricket even if I want to. There is no proper ground also. Even this ground was a flower field before the Asian Games. It was converted into a cricket field for the Asian Games. A few warm-up games were played here before the Asian Games,” he said.

While he revers Tendulkar, Yu’s favourite cricketer is a New Zealander. “My favourite is Kane Williamson but Sachin Tendulkar is a legend of the game, Yu, who is doing his Masters Zoology in a University in Bejing, said. But, Yu is not going to wait for the Indian men’s team to play in the Asian Games when the competition begins on Wednesday.

(With PTI Inputs)