On Friday, the BCCI revealed the men’s and women’s teams for the Hangzhou Asian Games, which begin September 23 and end October 8. The women’s cricket competition runs September 19–28, while the men’s runs September 28–October 8. Both tournaments are T20. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, and Ruturaj Gaikwad will lead the men’s team. Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, and Sai Sudharsan are reliable.
Hangzhou Asian Games teams announced by BCCI
After a strong IPL, Rinku, Dube, Jaiswal, Varma, and Prabhsimran Singh were selected. Dube’s maturation helped CSK win a record-tying sixth title. Tilak will play a five-match series against the West Indies starting August 3. Gaikwad, who will captain China, is with the Test squad in the Caribbean. The lineup includes wicketkeeper batter Jitesh Sharma and left-arm bowler Arshdeep Singh. Smriti Mandhana will assist Harmanpreet Kaur as captain of the women’s team.
Harleen Deol, Kashvee Gautam, Sneh Rana, Saika Ishaque, and Pooja Vastrakar are standbys. India’s U-19 Women’s World Cup champion Titas Sadhu joined the squad. The 18-year-old is not with India in Bangladesh. Bangladeshi rookie spinners Minnu Mani and Anusha Bareddy are included. Wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh, dropped from Bangladesh trip due to fitness, is back.
In 2010 and 2014, India did not compete in Asiad cricket. Cricket has returned to the Hangzhou Games, which were postponed last year owing to China’s zero-Covid policy.BCCI has fielded two national teams before. One Indian team played Pakistan in the Sahara Cup and another at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur. In 2021, Shikhar Dhawan led a second-string Indian side in Sri Lanka while Virat Kohli’s team was in the UK for a Test series against England. Meanwhile, India’s NSFs have announced shooting, boxing, archery, and badminton squads.
TEAMS
- India men’s team: Ruturaj Gaikwad (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Shivam Mavi, Shivam Dube, Prabhsimran Singh (wk)
- Standby list of players: Yash Thakur, Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Sai Sudarsan
- India women’s team: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Amanjot Kaur, Devika Vaidya, Anjali Sarvani, Titas Sadhu, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Minnu Mani, Kanika Ahuja, Uma Chetry (wk), Anusha Bareddy
