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The BCCI has announced the Indian women’s cricket team for the upcoming Commonwealth Games to be held in Birmingham.
Harmanpreet Kaur will lead the 15-member squad during T20 cricket’s debut at the quadrennial event. The team will also see the return of Sneh Rana, Harleen Deol and wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatiya who missed out on the recent T20I series against Sri Lanka.
India has also named Richa Ghosh, Simran Bahadur and Poonam Yadav as the stand-by players for the tournament. India is named in Group A alongside Australia, Barbados and Pakistan. It will take on Australia in the tournament opener on July 29. Group B comprises host England, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka.
This will be the first appearance for women’s cricket at CWG with Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham hosting all matches. Cricket, however, has been played before at the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Games where South Africa won gold in the men’s 50-over competition.
Indian Women Cricket Squad:
Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Sabbhineni Meghana, Taniyaa Bhatia (wk), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Deepti Sharma, Rajeshari Gayakwad, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Radha Yadav, Harleen Deol, Sneh Rana