Smriti Mandhana I AFP
New Delhi: Ahead of the Commonwealth Games, opener and vice-captain of Indian women's cricket team Smriti Mandhana said that they are aiming for gold medal at CWG 2022 and a podium finish.
Indian women's cricket team led by Harmanpreet Kaur will be competing at the Commonwealth Games 2022 for the first time in history when the event get underway in Birmingham, starting from 29 July.
Women in Blue are set to start their CWG campaign against Australia in the opener. India's clash against Australia on July 29 will mark the debut of women's cricket in the Commonwealth Games.
"The mood is very good in the camp and we are very excited to compete at the CWG. We definitely aiming for gold and now just a podium finish. We have watched the Olympics and CWG on TV and I myself got goosebumps when the national anthem was played with Neeraj Chopra getting the gold medal in Tokyo. We want to replicate that feeling although this is not the Olympics," Mandhana said during a media interaction ahead of the team's departure for Birmingham on Friday.
The women's team is set to be a part of the 322-member Indian contingent set to travel to Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games. In the 322-member squad, 215 are athletes, with 108 men and 107 women part of the squad.
"As I said, none of us have the experience of playing in the CWG before. We would love to imagine ourselves getting on the top podium and getting gold medals after winning the final. We are really excited and looking to enjoy ourselves at the CWG," Mandhana said.
The 26-year-old opener has been in good form, scoring an outstanding unbeaten 94 in the second ODI against Sri Lanka in the recently concluded series. Team India whitewashed Sri Lanka in the ODI series and won the T20 series 2-1 ahead of the CWG 2022.
India women squad for CWG 2022: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), 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 and Sneh Rana. (ANI)
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