Kaur, Mandhana headlines strong Indian squad for Commonwealth Games

Women's Cricket will feature for the first time at the multi-sport event in Birmingham.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the women's squad that will represent India at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Birmingham will be the host city for the prestigious meet which will begin from 28 July 2022 onwards. Indian women’s cricket team will be one of the participants in the T20 tournament. This is the first occasion when a Women’s International T20 tournament is organised at a major multi-sport event. It is, thereby, a historical event in itself.

This will be the first time that cricket is part of the list of disciplines at a Commonwealth Games edition since 1998 in Kuala Lumpur. There are eight nations vying for the medals in the 2022 edition. There are two groups of four teams each. India is in Group A alongside the likes of Australia, Barbados and Pakistan. The top two teams will make it to the semi-final after the group stage.

Here is the team that will shoulder the expectations from a passionate Indian cricket fanbase at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

The Squad

Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, S. Meghana, Taniyaa Sapna Bhatia (Wk), Yastika Bhatia (Wk), Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Radha Yadav, Harleen Deol, Sneh Rana.

The 15-member team will be captained by the excellent Harmanpreet Kaur. Smriti Mandhana will act as the vice-captain and hope to score plenty of runs for the team. There are more key figures such as Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma and more, who make up a strong squad. 

The aim will be to win the first-ever historic cricket gold at the Commonwealth Games for India.

Schedule

India takes on Australia in the opener on July 29, Pakistan on July 31 and Barbados on August 3. All the matches take place at the historic Edgbaston Cricket Ground, Birmingham. Knockout fixtures will take place after the completion of the group stage. The winners of the semi-finals will advance to the gold medal match and the losers take their place in the bronze medal match. 

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