Commonwealth Games 2022: Harmanpreet Kaur to lead 15-member Indian women’s team

Harmanpreet Kaur has been named the captain of the Indian women’s team that is set to play in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, which are set to begin in Birmingham from July 29. Opener Smriti Mandhana has been made Harmanpreet’s deputy. Following the men’s ODI tournament at the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games, women’s T20 cricket made its CWG debut this year.

The most notable player to make a comeback at the national level is all-rounder Sneh Rana, who missed the Sri Lanka series due to injury, due to which he was placed at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for rehabilitation. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side would have converted keeper Yastika Bhatia as the first choice.

Tania’s selection was surprising as the Neetu David-led selection committee brought back a keeper-batsman who scored 166 runs in 22 innings at an average of 9.72 with a strike rate of 94. The casualty was Bengal’s Richa Ghosh, who has scored 191 runs in 14 matches at a strike rate of over 112 but is now on the reserve list as she has gone off the radar in recent times.

Veteran leg-spinner Poonam Yadav, who is no longer certain in the squad, is on the standby list along with seamer Simran Dil Bahadur. The three fast bowlers in the list are Meghna Singh, Renuka Thakur and Pooja Vastrakar.

India are in Group A along with Australia, Barbados and Pakistan. Sri Lanka, England, New Zealand and South Africa have been placed in Group B. Their campaign will start with the match against Australia on 29 July. The top two teams from the respective pool will advance to the semi-finals.

The league-cum-knockout women’s tournament will begin on 29 July with a match between Australia and India in the Women’s 2020 T20 World Cup final, with bronze and gold medal matches on 7 August.

4,500 athletes from 72 countries and territories will compete over 11 days at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, to be held from 28 July to 8 August. Birmingham 2022 will be the first major multi-sport event in history to award more medals to women than men.

Team India 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.

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