New Delhi: With its eye on making cricket a medal sport at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, India is gearing up to field its top male and female cricketers at this year’s Asian Games in Japan, with regular captains Suryakumar Yadav and Harmanpreet Kaur leading their respective teams in the T20 format.
It is understood that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has sent the list of prominent cricketers to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) as part of the official contingent captain list, which will be forwarded to the Olympic Organizing Committee (OC) by the end of next month. A source told TOI: “India will field the ‘A’ team once the final list is finalized by the end of May. The BCCI has sent the list of leading players in both men’s and women’s cricket to the IOA. All top cricketers will be available for selection.”
Sources said the men’s list includes current T20 skipper Yadav, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel and Rinku Singh.
Likewise, the women’s long list includes Harmanpreet, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Renuka Thakur, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Kranti Gaud and Sree Charani.
“India are the defending champions, having won gold medals in both men’s and women’s events at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou. With cricket being included in the Los Angeles Games, multi-sport events like the Asian Games and Olympics are gaining importance,” the source added.
India’s all-around coach Gautam Gambhir has said that winning a gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics remains one of his main goals.
Earlier, the BCCI had considered fielding a second-best men’s team, mostly featuring emerging stars, in multi-sport events due to a congested international schedule. However, in women’s team competitions, the board usually prefers to field senior ‘A’ list cricketers.
Sources said: “This time, both teams have no plans to participate in international competitions during the Olympics.” The Asian Games will be held in Aichi and Nagoya Prefectures, Japan, from September 19 to October 4. The cricket match will feature 10 men’s teams and 8 women’s teams and will be held at Korogi Sports Park in Aichi Prefecture.
