Former Indian skipper Anjum Chopra feels no team should be taken lightly in CWG 2022 cricket tournament
Jul 23, 2022
New Delhi [India], July 23 : Former Indian cricketer and captain Anjum Chopra feels that the Indian women's cricket team should take no team lightly during the Commonwealth Games 2022.
Commonwealth Games 2022 will take place in Birmingham from July 28 to August 8 and women's cricket will be a part of it.
"Every team is challenging. In our pool, there is Australia, Pakistan and Barbados. When you look at Barbados, they do have a good team. In T20I and 50-over format, the key difference is that anyone can have a good day. There is no team that we should take lightly. All teams are great," said Chopra in an exclusive interview with ANI.
About the Indian squad sent to CWG and expectations from it, Chopra added, "It is the best squad India could have sent. This squad was also in Sri Lanka and is the best we have now. Nobody has missed out. Talking about the expectations, I want the Indian team to win everything. But it is not easy. It is going to be a nice opportunity and even the team knows it because CWG is a different setting. It is not an ICC event."
The former Indian cricket said that CWG 2022 is a huge platform for women's cricket.
"It is a big platform. Men's cricket had gone to CWG in 1998. ICC is making a conscious effort to promote women's cricket and men's cricket in different formats. We all know that ICC is pushing for cricket's inclusion in Olympics. CWG is the first step towards that. Also, we are past the mentality that women's cricket is a by-product of men's cricket. It is a product in itself and it is growing. I am happy that the women's team has been sent there," she said.
Harmanpreet Kaur is all set to lead Team India in the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. This will be the first time that Women's T20 International will be featured in the prestigious multi-sport event.
India is in Group A with Australia, Barbados, and Pakistan. Sri Lanka, England, New Zealand, and South Africa are placed in Group B. The top two teams from the respective pools will progress to the semi-finals. India is scheduled to play three games in the league stage of the tournament starting July 29, 2022.
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.
Standby: Simran Dil Bahadur, Richa Ghosh, Poonam Yadav.
