The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is all set to send the Men’s and Women’s teams to the Asian Games, which will take place from September 23 to October 8 in China’s Hangzhou city. In the Asian Games, cricket will be played in the T20 format. Earlier the BCCI cited prior commitments to not participate in the Games.
As per a report in the Indian Express, the board has done a rethink on their decision. They will be sending the Men’s as well as the Women’s team for the Asian Games. However, the senior men’s squad is unlikely to feature, as they will be in the midst of the ICC ODI World Cup. The World Cup will take place from October 5 to November 23. The likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Hardik Pandya will be busy with the World Cup preparations.
In this case, the B men’s squad will be sent to play the Asian Games. This won’t be the first instance of two Indian men’s teams playing at the same time. In 1998, one Indian team played at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur while another faced Pakistan in the Sahara Cup. Recently, in 2021, Shikhar Dhawan led a second-string Indian team in Sri Lanka while a Virat Kohli-led team was in the UK ahead of a Test series against England.
First-string Women’s team to play at the Asian Games
Meanwhile, the first-string women’s team will be at the Asiad. The likes of Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, and Jemimah Rodrigues will be featuring in the event. The women’s cricket team played in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in July and August where they won the Silver medal after losing to Australia in the final.
The BCCI will be forwarding the list of players to the Indian Olympic Association before June 30. Cricket was part of the 2010 and 2013 Asian Games. However, India did not field a team during the two editions. The sport is making a comeback to the Hangzhou Asian Games. It was left out of the 2018 Asiad in Jakarta. The 19th Asian Games was supposed to be held in 2022, however, it was postponed due to China’s zero-COVID policy.
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