Commonwealth Games 2022: Smriti Mandhana and Team India aim to emulate Neeraj Chopra’s gold medal-winning feat

Indian women cricket team will be competing at the Commonwealth Games 2022 for the first time in history when the games get underway in Birmingham next week. Cricket is part of the CWG for just the second time and makes a comeback after 1998 where men’s 50-over cricket was part of the multi-nation tournament. This time around 8 teams will be divided among two groups with India in Group A along with Australia (silver medallist from 1998), Pakistan and Barbados.

Opener Smriti Mandhana is the vice-captain of the Indian side which will be competing at the CWG 2022. “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 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 (July 22).

The 26-year-old southpaw has been in fine form with the willow, scoring an impressive unbeaten 94 in the second ODI against Sri Lanka recently. Team India whitewashed Sri Lanka in the ODI series and won the T20 series 2-1 ahead of the CWG 2022.

“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.

NEWS : #TeamIndia (Senior Women) squad for Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games announced. #B2022 | @birminghamcg22 pic.twitter.com/lprQenpFJv — BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) July 11, 2022

The opener has turned out in 87 T20Is till date, scoring 2,033 runs with 14 fifties and a strike-rate of 120.15. India will open their campaign against Australia on Day 2 of the CWG at the Edgbaston cricket ground on July 29 and will then take on arch-rivals Pakistan in their second match on July 31. Their third and final group fixture against Barbados will be on August 3.

“We have know about the groups in the CWG for a while now and we have plans in place for all the three teams. Sri Lanka personally was a good learning experience for me and I got to take away a lot of what works for my own batting from this tour,” the Team India vice-captain said.

Asked about her plans to interact with other athletes at the Games village, Mandhana said, “I don’t know how much or with whom we’ll be able to interact during the CWG. But I would love to have a conversation with the different athletes, trying to find out about their game, their mental preparation.”