On Friday, the BCCI declared both the men’s and the women’s teams which will be taking part in the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games, slated to start on September 23 and end on October 8. The women’s cricket event will start from September 19-28 while the men’s competition will start from September 28-October 8. Both competitions will be played in T20 formats.
Harmanpreet Kaur will lead the Indian women’s team with Smriti Mandhana taking charge as her deputy. Players like Harleen Deol, Kashvee Gautam, Sneh Rana, Saika Ishaque, and Pooja Vastrakar have been named in the standby list.
Talented speedster Titas Sadhu who had a great run in India’s title-winning campaign at the inaugural U-19 Women’s World Cup in South Africa has also been added to the squad. Young spinners Minnu Mani and Anusha Bareddy have also been included in the Indian side. Wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh is also back in the team.
Earlier, cricket was a part of two editions of the Asiad back in 2010 and 2014 but India did not send a team. Cricket has finally returned after being left out of the 2018 Asiad in Jakarta. Meanwhile, India already sent teams in other sports such as shooting, boxing, archery, and badminton, and the same has already been declared by the respective national sports federations (NSFs).
India women’s team: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Amanjot Kaur, Devika Vaidya, Anjali Sarvani, Titas Sadhu, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Minnu Mani, Kanika Ahuja, Uma Chetry (wk), Anusha Bareddy.
Standby list of players: Harleen Deol, Kashvee Gautam, Sneh Rana, Saika Ishaque, Pooja Vastrakar.