Women cricketers will get to experience the vibe of a multi-sporting event for the very first time as the sport hopes to generate global eyeballs when it returns to the Commonwealth Games after 24 long years. (More Cricket News)
With all top ꦜcricketing nations part of the Commonwealth, cricket's inclusion in the Birmingham Games appears natural but it still took more than two decades for the sport to make a comeback.
The only other time cricket featured in the Commonwealth Games was in Kua♌la Lumpur in 1998 when the men's c🐭ompetition was staged.
The International Cricket Council (ICC), which is pushing for the game's inclusion in the 2028 Olympics, will be hoping that ಞthe women's cricket event is a roaring success in Birmin👍gham so that it has a stronger pitch to make for the Summer Games in Los Angeles.
With the Indian and Pakistan diaspora forming a large part of Birmingham's population, one can expect ꦗa sell out crowd at the Edgbaston for the marquee clashes, including the Indo-Pak contest on July 31.
"The India-Pakistan game will be one of the highlights of the Commonwealth Games," reckons Birmingham Games CEO Ian Reid.
Though England and Australia ar𒅌e not in the same group, the fans are expecting them to meet in the knock-out s🐟tages with the tickets already sold out for the semifinals and final.
The players, including the Indians, who are usually confined to their hotels during their 🌌bilateral contests, are looking forward to interacting with athletes of other sports.
The cricketers will not be hous🎉ed in the Games Village along with the♕ rest of the international athletes during their stay due to logistical reasons, but they will certainly be part of the opening ceremony and watch a sport of their choice i༒n their downtime.
"I am really excited about the Commonwealth Games. For me it ღis like competing in a World Cup. I have been preparing it for a long time now," top India all-rounder Deepti Sharma told PTI in a recent chat.
The eig🐓ht participating teams are divided into groups of four. Group A includes India, Pakistan, Australia and Barbados while Group B comprises England, New Zealand, S🎃outh Africa and Sri Lanka.
The competi▨tion will also give a strong indication on where all teams stand ahead of the T20 World Cup next year.
As the reigning world champions in T20 and ODI cricket, Australia have been the benchmark for a while now. E👍ngland are a tad behind their arch-rivals while the likes of India, New Zealand and South Africa are very much a work 💜in progress.
Over the last couple of years, India lost four series in a row before winning one against an under-prep🧸ared Sri Lanka last month.
Under the leadership o♔f the new all-format captain Harmanpreet Kaur, India were expected to run through an opponent that had hardly played in the last two years, but Sri Lanka still managed to win a game in the series.
Like the men's game, women's crick⛎et too is evolving at a rapid pace and India clearly n♒eed to catch up.
"Indi꧅a need to look at CWG as another tournament. The vibe will be different as it is not an ICC event. The players will be part of 𝓀the entire Indian contingent. They would surely want to win a medal for the country but you have to be realistic as well," former India captain Anjum Chopra said.
"There are better teams which are part of the competition. Also,🦂 India have not had a great run of late in playing away T20 games. It is a progressive team, it is still trying to find its best combi💝nation.
"They have to find their style of play and they are far from it at the moment. You don't have the same depth that you have in the men's team. The set up we have at the moment -- somebody ꦰis running, somebody is walking and somebody is leaping, you can't have a mixed bag like that," she said.
The event begins with the India-Australia clash on Ju🌼ly 29 while later in the day Pakistan open theℱir campaign against Barbados.
All 💖games including the final o🏅n August 7 will be played at Edgbaston.
