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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is likely to field both men’s and women’s teams for the upcoming Asian Games 2023. The Indian Cricketer’s Council had earlier decided against the same citing ‘prior commitments’, but is said to have made the change.
The 2023 Asian Games will be held in Hangzhou, China, from September 23 to October 8. Meanwhile, the men’s cricket world cup is scheduled to be held in India from October 5 to November 23. B team for the men’s event at the Asian Games.
According to a report in The Indian Express, while the men’s team is likely to be second-string, the BCCI is set to field a full-strength squad for the women’s event.
The report added that the BCCI will forward the list of players to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) before June 30. The men’s and women’s cricket competitions at the Asian Games will be played in T20 format.
The development represents a complete departure from the previous position of the Indian Cricket Board. India’s chef for the Asian Games, Bhupinder Bajwa, was earlier quoted as telling the Indian Express:
“We have entries in all but one of the sports – (team) cricket will not go. They said they are busy. We sent them about 3-4 emails but when we had to send entries to the organisers, they said they were not going.”
India has fielded more than one cricket team earlier too. In 1998, one team participated in the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, while another team faced Pakistan in the Desert Cup.
In 2021, Shikhar Dhawan captained a white ball team to Sri Lanka, while the main squad, captained by Virat Kohli, was part of a Test series in England.
Has cricket appeared in the Asian Games before?
Cricket has been a part of two editions of the Asian Games, in 2010 and 2014. However, the BCCI has not fielded a team for these events. The sport was excluded from the 2018 edition in Jakarta, but was brought back to the Hangzhou Games.
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