The countdown is on for the Commonwealth Games that are scheduled to get underway on 29 July. The opening encounter is a building cricket rivalry, a rich rivalry in the making, one between the two who’ve lately had a few close contests in Australia’s faceoff against India.
There’s always an exchange of words between two big teams before a contest and it’s only fair to say shots have been fired from Smriti Mandhana in refusing to call five-time T20I champions Australia a big team. The Indians have their plans set for the mighty Australians and the rest to go by Mandhana’s words.
Smriti Mandhana quoted, “We have played them (Australia) in the openers in quite a lot of tournaments. In a T20I tournament, any team can beat any team. I wouldn’t term Australia as a big team and make them feel good about that. Definitely, in our heads, Australia, Pakistan, and Barbados matches are important. We will go as they come and will look to win all of them.”
India played Sri Lanka in their buildup to the games and bagged the 3-match T20I series 2-1. Smriti Mandhana feels good about the preparations and said, “Our preparations have been really good and I hope it will lead us to the medal.”
Senior batter Smriti Mandhana is unfazed by Australia#CWG22 #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/3NhpcuLnFk
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) July 23, 2022
INDIA’S SQUAD FOR THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES :
Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Sabbhineni Meghana, Taniya Sapna Bhatia, Yastika Bhatia, Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Radha Yadav, Harleen Deol, Sneh Rana.
India placed in group A play Pakistan on 31st July and Barbados on 2nd August after their opening encounter against Australia that’s on the 29th of July, the curtain raiser day when Women’s cricket will mark its debut at the prestigious multi-sporting Commonwealth Games event.