India at CWG 2022: Cricket’s inclusion and more matches for women’s teams great thing, says Anjum Chopra – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

Star batter Smriti Mandhana recently said she had “goosebumps” while watching Neeraj Chopra win the gold medal for India at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Exactly 12 days from now, it could be Mandhana with a gold medal around her neck. Women’s cricket is set to make its debut at the 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Birmingham.

The sport’s first entry at the multi-nation event was in 1998 when men’s teams from 16 nations took part in Malaysia. It now makes a return with a women’s T20 competition that will see eight teams fight for the medals at the multi-sport multi-nation event.

While cricket’s return to CWG is seen as a major step towards the sport becoming a part of the Olympics, it also offers women’s teams one more quality tournament and enhanced visibility.

India are aiming for the top prize and the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side enter the competition after clinching the T20I and ODI series in Sri Lanka. India are in Group A with Australia, Barbados and Pakistan. Group B includes Sri Lanka, England, New Zealand and South Africa.

We caught up with former India captain and broadcaster Anjum Chopra to talk about India’s chances, the medal favourites, and the significance of women’s cricket joining the CWG roster. Excerpts: 

Q: Women’s cricket is going to make its debut in the Commonwealth Games. India will enter the competition having won the ODI and T20I series in Sri Lanka. Looking at India’s performances, what would you say were the learnings?

Anjum Chopra: It’s a great thing to win a series. Winning gives you momentum. This team is going to play a lot of cricket in the coming time and the more they play the better they will get. I feel that fielding definitely needs improvement. Wherever you play, you need to be a top-notch fielding side in today’s world. Not that India are a bad fielding side but the benchmark is higher. Also, fitness wise improvements can be made.

In both cases, India are not a bad side, but in both these cases, the sky is the limit. You can improve every day more and more. Also, as conditions change, they will need to adapt quickly to their surroundings. Not just conditions, but also to match situations. How you line up your batting order and how you counter pace or spin. How they react to match situations and conditions will be an important aspect they keep going forward.

Q. Looking at the squad that India have picked for the CWG. Do you feel there’s a lack of balance in the batting department? The team has a lot of top-order batters and Jemimah would play No 5. Also, the absence of Richa Ghosh could put a lot of pressure on skipper Harmanpreet Kaur to score quick runs in death overs.

AC: It’s right that we have a lot of openers in the squad. We have five openers. The middle-order options are not there in domestic cricket as well. In domestic cricket, we are still not working towards creating middle-order options. Whoever bats well gets promoted to the top. Jemi (Jemimah) playing in the middle-order is a good option because she has developed her game like that. There’s also an opportunity for the players to stake a claim. The selectors have picked from the best they had and now it’s up to the players to make those positions theirs. A lot of openers in the squad will also put the right kind of pressure on our top-order players.

Q. In such a situation, does it become imperative for the openers and top-order to fire? In the ODI World Cup also a lot of time we relied on lower-order runs.

AC: If we say that only openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma have to be our saviour then how can we become a world-class team? There are more expectations from the openers because they get more balls to play but contributions are required from everyone. We need consistency from openers and we need that consistency from other batters also, from Yastika (Bhatia), Harman (Harmanpreet), (Pooja) Vastrakar also. In T20, you don’t have to rely on openers for all the runs.

Q. Poonam Yadav was the lone Indian in 2020 T20 World Cup Team of the Tournament. Now she is part of the standby list. India are without a wrist spinner and our spin attack looks one-dimensional. Even the wicket-takers list of the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy was dominated by finger spinners.

AC: India have a lot of bowling options. Today Poonam is on the standby list because the team is unable to fit her into the playing XI. This T20 team has more all-rounders. Harleen Deol has an opportunity to play that role. She got seven wickets in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy. She has been with the team for over two years. It’s up to her how she grabs this opportunity. She is a young player and a good fielder, but it’s important she cashes in on the opportunity she gets. If Poonam is not playing it offers an opportunity to other players. Also, Poonam is still in the scheme of things. It’s now on her how she makes a comeback.

Q. The entry of women’s cricket into CWG is a big thing. How do you look at this new beginning and what the game can gain from it?

AC: It’s a great thing that women’s cricket is now part of CWG. Men’s teams already have a lot of matches. The more games the women’s teams get the better. Commonwealth Games is especially important because it gives you an opportunity to win a medal for your nation. These events like CWG and the Olympics are very significant. They have a different aura. With this women’s teams are also guaranteed extra matches.

Q. Prediction: Who do you think will win gold? Are Australia the clear favourites or surprise is in the store?

AC: Surprise is always in store in sports. There will always be unpredictability but Australia are a very strong side. They have not played a lot of cricket recently. This will be the start of the season and how they start will be interesting. India, South Africa, England and New Zealand have been playing so that is where they could hope to outwit Australia. Skill-wise Australia are right at the top. Almost all the teams are playing so it’s like a World Cup at CWG.

India will begin their campaign against Australia on 29 July.

India’s fixtures:

India vs Australia: 29 July, 4.30 pm IST

India vs Pakistan: 31 July, 4.30 pm IST

India vs Barbados: 3 August, 11.30 pm IST

The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals.

All matches will be played at Edgbaston stadium.

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.

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