Asian Games: BCCI to meet and decide squad for quadrennial event; Shikhar Dhawan reportedly touted as captain for Men's B team

SportsTak

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will be sending teams to the Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou, China, later in the year. With the mega Asiad set to take place around the time of the ODI World Cup in India, the men's B squad will make the flight to Hangzhou, while the first team of the women's, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, will be a part of the quadrennial event.

In an update on the same event, a BCCI source told Sports Tak that a decision on the teams to be sent for the Asian Games will take place in a BCCI Apex Council meeting on July 7. While the main players of Team India will be busy with the World Cup, a B Team will be sent under the captaincy of Shikhar Dhawan.

VVS Laxman might take the responsibility of coaching the team but the final decision will be taken in the meeting.

Team India will play in Asian Games for the first time

It will be the first time that both the men's and women's teams of India will play cricket at the Asian Games. Cricket was a part of the 2010 and 2014 Asian Games but the BCCI chose not to send teams to those tournaments.

The Asian Games were to be held in China in 2022 but a strict Coronavirus policy forced the postponement of the tournament.

Pakistan's women's team won both times

This will also not be the first time that the BCCI will be fielding two national teams. In 1998, one team participated in the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur while another faced Pakistan in the Sahara Cup. More recently in 2021, Shikhar Dhawan captained a second-string side on a white-ball series against Sri Lanka while the other team, captained by Virat Kohli, was in the UK for a Test series against England.

The BCCI had earlier refrained from sending their men’s and women’s teams to the continental event. “We have entries in all sports except one – cricket (team) isn’t going,” India’s chef de mission for the Asian Games, Bhupender Bajwa had told The Indian Express earlier. “They said they are preoccupied. We sent around 3-4 emails to them but when we had to send entries to the organisers, they said they won’t go."

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