The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed the participation of the Indian men’s cricket team in the Asian Games, marking their debut in the mega regional sports event.
After the promotion, the men’s team will join their women counterparts in the T20 format.
However, controversy has arisen due to the dates of the Asian Games, which coincide with the ICC Cricket World Cup in India this year.
Therefore, according to JEE News reports, the men’s team participating in the tournament will consist of its B squad and no star cricketer will be present in any team in the Asian Games.
The Asian Games are scheduled from September 23 to October 8 in Hangzhou, China, while the World Cup is scheduled to take place from October 5 to November 19.
Apart from this, the teams will also have to participate in warm-up matches. The BCCI will submit its list of players to the Indian Olympic Association by June 30.
“We have entries in all sports except one – the cricket (team) is not going. They said they are busy, we sent them about 3-4 emails but when we had to send the entries to the organizers, they He said he would win.” India’s chef de mission for the Asian Games Bhupinder Bajwa told JEE News earlier.
Meanwhile, cricket — which featured in the tournament in 2010 and 2014 but not in 2018 — has now been added to the Hangzhou Games. The sporting event was supposed to take place in China last year but was postponed due to the COVID-19 restrictions.
This is not the first time that BCCI has fielded its two national teams. Earlier in 1998, the board had sent one team to participate in the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games and another to compete against Pakistan in the Sahara Cup.
Similarly, cricketer Shikhar Dhawan led a second-string team in Sri Lanka in 2021, while Virat Kohli led a team in England.
Despite repeated requests, the board had previously refused to participate in the Asian Games, saying it was busy.
