By Amlan Chakraborty
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Cricket powerhouse India confirmed they will send both their men’s and women’s teams to the Asian Games in Hangzhou in September-October, the country’s cricket board (BCCI) said on Saturday.
Cricket featured twice in the Asian Games but India did not participate either when the country hosted the Games in 2010 or in 2014.
With India gearing up for the 50-overs home World Cup later this year, they would field a second-string men’s team in the Asian Games with opener Shikhar Dhawan as the likely captain.
“BCCI will send both men’s and women’s teams to the Asian Games…” board secretary Jay Shah said in a statement.
“However, considering the overlap of schedule of the Asian Games with ICC men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, BCCI will select from the players not participating in the World Cup to play in the Asian Games.”
The decision was taken after Friday’s apex committee meeting in Mumbai where the world’s richest cricket board also decided to upgrade its stadiums beginning with the 10 venues where World Cup matches will be staged this year.
The BCCI also decided to formulate a policy to prevent early retirements by players to play in lucrative overseas T20 leagues, Shah added.
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Shri Navaratnam)
