The Board of Control for Cricket in India named both the men’s and women’s squads for the Asian Games 2023, with the men’s team essentially a B-team whereas the women’s team is all but full strength.
The Asian Games will feature cricket in the T20 format, and it is safe to say that the Indian team will be among the favourites to win this gold medal.
Ruturaj Gaikwad was named the skipper of this team, ending all rumours that it would be Shikhar Dhawan who would be handed a T20I recall to lead the side.
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The men’s team features maiden call-ups for Rinku Singh and Prabhsimran Singh, while also having recalls for a number of players who have played in the format in the past.
This includes Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Arshdeep Singh, Shivam Mavi and Shivam Dube.
Tellingly, this list of players also confirms which players will be in the hunt for the ODI World Cup slots – both tournaments will be taking place at the same time, after all.
In the women’s team, Harmanpreet Kaur will lead a full-strength Indian women’s team, with Smriti Mandhana named her deputy.
It is a squad that does in many ways feature a blend of youth and experience. The likes of Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma and even Richa Ghosh have consistently played international cricket.
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But the likes of Titas Sadhu, Minnu Mani, Kanika Ahuja, Uma Chetry and Anusha Bareddy are relatively inexperienced at this level.
Both teams have also named standby players for the squads. In the men’s side R Sai Kishore, Sai Sudarshan, Deepak Hooda, Venkatesh Iyer and Yash Thakur are the standbys.
For the women’s squad Kashvee Gautam, Harleen Deol, Saika Ishaque, Pooja Vastrakar and Sneh Rana and are the standbys.
The Asian Games was meant to take place in 2022 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The women’s tournament will take place from September 19-28; the men’s tournament will take place from September 28-October 8.
India men’s squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Rahul Tripathi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma, Prabhsimran Singh, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Shahbaz Ahmed, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Shivam Mavi.
India women’s squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Amanjot Kaur, Titas Sadhu, Anjali Sarvani, Minnu Mani, Rajashwari Gayakwad, Anusha Bareddy, Uma Chetry, Kanika Ahuja.
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