India women’s cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur will not be eligible to play in Asian Games 2023 until and unless the team qualifies for the final.
Four teams -- India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh -- in both men's and women's events will get a direct entry into the last eight stage due to their ICC T20I ranking. As a result, the Smriti Mandhana-led side will start off their Asian Games 2023 campaign at the quarter-final stage.
India will first face an associate nation at the quarter-final stage. However, the semi-final clash is highly likely to be against one of the remaining three sides that got direct entry into last eight.
Harmanpreet was slapped with two-match suspension by International Cricket Council (ICC) for violating the Code of Conduct on two accounts. She will not play until India reach the final in Hangzhou Games.
Harmanpreet was fined 75 per cent of her match fee in addition to the two-match suspension as she showed dissent over Bangladesh umpire’s decision followed by criticising him in the post-match presentation.
All the matches played in Asian Games 2023 will have official T20I status. The women's competetion will commence on September 19 and played till September 26. The bronze and gold medal matches will be played on September 26. In this case, if India lose in the semi-final, Harmanpreet will be available for bronze medal match as well.
The men's team led by Ruturaj Gaikwad will also get a direct entry into the quartr-final. They will play their knockout matches on back-to-back days. The quarter-final will be played on October 5 followed by semi-final on October 6 and the final on October 7. India are expected to begin their campaign against Afghanistan or Bangladesh.
India women’s 15-member squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Amanjot Kaur, Devika Vaidya, Anjali Sarvani, Titas Sadhu, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Minnu Mani, Kanika Ahuja, Uma Chetry (wk), Anusha Bareddy
Standby list of players: Harleen Deol, Kashvee Gautam, Sneh Rana, Saika Ishaque, Pooja Vastrakar
India men’s 15-member squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Shivam Mavi, Shivam Dube, Prabhsimran Singh (wk)
Standby list of players: Yash Thakur, Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Sai Sudharsan
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
IND vs WI: Why Suryakumar Yadav donned Sanju Samson's jersey during first ODI against West Indies?
Watch: Angry Rohit Sharma hurls mouthful after Shardul's sluggish fielding during first ODI against West Indies
IND vs WI: Rohit explains rationale behind not opening and Kohli's demotion in batting order in first ODI against West Indies
