In the 2023 Asian Games, cricket will be one of 40 sports that will be played. There had been no cricket at the Asian Games in nine long years before this edition, and until this edition, there had not been any cricket at the Asian Games since 2014. Cricket was incorporated in the 2010 Asian Games. This will be the first instance when the Indian cricket team will take part in the Asian Games. This time India will field both Men’s and Women’s teams on the grand stage. The women’s team will be a full-fledged team but on the other hand, the men’s team will miss their regular players due to a clash of schedule with the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. It will be a great opportunity for the youngsters to showcase their talent in the absence of regular players.

Based on the T20I ranking, both the Indian men’s and women’s teams have directly qualified for the quarter-finals along with Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.

Preparation camp held in Bengaluru

To prepare for the Asian Games, the Indian cricket teams will hold training camps in Bengaluru starting this week. The length of these camps will vary depending on the schedules of men and women. Hangzhou, China, will host the Asian Games between September 23 to October 8, 2023.

During the nearly two-week training camp that will be held in Bengaluru from September 12-24, the men’s team will be led by Ruturaj Gaikwad and coached by VVS Laxman. A source familiar with the situation said that the women’s camp will last for four days, from September 13 to September 16. The camp will be valuable for gaining experience in multi-sport competitions like the Asian Games.

The women’s team, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, leaves for China on September 17, the camp will have a shorter duration because of their early departure schedule. Matches will be played in T20 format for both men and women. Hrishikesh Kanitkar will coach the women’s team. The tournament will be held between September 27 to October 7 for the men’s team and the women’s matches will be played from September 19 to September 25. The Indian team is seeded directly into the quarterfinals, which will be played on October 3. Cricket matches will be held at the Zhejiang University of Technology Pingfeng Cricket Field.

*This is the Indian jersey for the Asian Games

Since there are strict limits on the number of Players permitted to remain in the Games Village, additional members and standby players are unlikely to travel with squads. Because the organisers struggle to accommodate extra individuals in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

Squads

Men’s Squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad(captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shivam Dube, Shivam Mavi, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Prabhsimran Singh(wk)

Standbys: Deepak Hooda, Venkatesh Iyer, Yash Thakur, Sai Kishore, Sai Sudharsan.

Women’s Squad: Harmanpreet Kaur(captain), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Varma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh(wk), Amanjot Kaur, Devika Vaidya, Anjali Sarvani, Titas Sadhu, Rajeshwari Gaikwad, Minnu Mani, Kanika Ahuja, Uma Chetry(wk), Anusha Bareddy

Standbys: Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana, Harleen Deol, Kashvee Gautam, Saika Ishaque