Commonwealth Games 2022: Full Indian Women's Cricket Squad; Harmanpreet Kaur to lead

New Delhi, July 12: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday (July 11) announced the 15-member Indian Women's Cricket Team squad for the upcoming Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, starting July 29. The matches will be held in the T20I format.

Cricket is making its entry into the Commonwealth Games first time since 1998 in Kuala Lumpur when the men's cricket teams from the Commonwealth nations participated in the quadrennial event for the first and the only time. Women's cricket is making its debut in the multi-sporting event with an aim to popularise the sport further.

The Indian women's cricket team, which will be led by Harmanpreet Kaur, is placed in Group A alongside World Champions Australia, Barbados and Pakistan. Smriti Mandhana will be Harmanpreet's deputy. Taniya Bhatia and Yastika Bhatia are the two wicketkeepers. Three players have also been kept on standby.

"The All-India Women's Selection Committee met on Monday to pick the squad for the forthcoming 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. This will be the first time that Women's T20 International will be featured in the prestigious multi-sport event," said a BCCI statement.

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"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 29th July 2022."

The women's cricket team will be a part of the 215-member contingent that India will be travelling to Birmingham for the quadrennial event. IOA acting president Anil Khanna and Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur have called it a 'gender-neutral contingent' with 108 men and 107 women being part of the touring party.

India's overall contingent count stands at 322 including 72 team officials, 26 extra officials, nine contingent staff, including three general managers.

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 players: Simran Dil Bahadur, Richa Ghosh, Poonam Yadav.