HARMANPREET KAUR TO LEAD INDIA AT COMMONWEALTH GAMES 2022
By Bibhu Ray
(The Quiver) : On Monday, India announced the 15-member squad for the Commonwealth Games, there was no surprises with Harmanpreet Kaur is set to lead the team in the event starting from July 29.The only significant change from the team that toured Sri Lanka was the inclusion of all-rounder Sneh Rana, who head coach Ramesh Powar claimed was “rested” for the series.
Previously on the team, Richa Ghosh, Simran Bahadur, and Poonam Yadav will now play in the reserves, while Harleen Deol and Taniyaa Bhatia join the 15-person roster. Shikha Pandey, who was passed over again for the Sri Lanka team, appeared to be forgotten once more.
India is confident going into the event after winning the ODIs 3-0 and the T20Is 2-1 in Sri Lanka. If they managed to reach the knockouts , which seems likely, India would have a good chance of winning a medal.
The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side will play Australia on July 29, arch-rivals Pakistan on July 31,and Barbados on August 3 to close up the group stage.
India, Australia, Barbados, and Pakistan are all in Group A for this competition. Group B consists of South Africa, New Zealand, England, and Sri Lanka.The top two teams from each group advance to the semifinals.
This will be the first appearance for women’s cricket at CWG with Edgbaston Cricket Ground hosting all the matches. However, cricket has been played before, most notably in the men’s 50-over competition, where South Africa won gold at the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Games.Squad:
Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandana (VC), Shafali Verma , S.Meghana, Taniyaa Sapna Bhatia (Wk), Yastika Bhatia (Wk), Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayawad, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Radha Yadav, Harleen Deol, Sneh Rana. Standby: Simran Dil Bahadur, Richa Ghosh, Poonam Yadav.https://twitter.com/BCCIWomen/status/1546534621008932865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1546534621008932865%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Findianexpress.com%2Farticle%2Fsports%2Fcricket%2Findia-womens-squad-for-2022-commonwealth-games-announced-8023320%2F
