Had Goosebumps when Neeraj Chopra received gold, India have the chance to be there at CWG: Smriti Mandhana

India ladies’s cricket crew vice-captain Smriti Mandhana revealed that she had goosebumps watching Neeraj Chopra put on the gold medal, standing on the Tokyo Olympics podium with the nationwide anthem taking part in on the stadium. The India ladies’s crew vice-captain now needs to expertise the identical going into the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

The Indian ladies’s cricket crew will begin their marketing campaign on the Commonwealth Games in opposition to Australia on Friday, July 29, as cricket is returning to CWG for the primary time in 24 years, with the primary ladies’s event to be performed out on the multi-sport occasion. Eight sides will participate in 16 matches at Edgbaston, with a winner topped and all of the medals finalised on August 7. India are in Group A together with Australia, Barbados and Pakistan, whereas Group B has hosts England, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka.

We are aiming for Gold Medal on the Commonwealth Games: #WorkforceIndia vice-captain @mandhana_smriti. #B2022 pic.twitter.com/7Tsovu3Y12

— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) July 22, 2022

“All the girls are really excited and we all know the feeling. We have all watched the Commonwealth and Olympic Games… that when the Indian flag goes up and we hear the national anthem, I think everyone knows that feeling and definitely we are aiming for gold,” mentioned Mandhana in a video posted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

“I don’t think we’ll just look for a podium finish because when that flag goes higher and the national anthem plays, that’s the best feeling. I literally get goose-bumps when I think about (javelin star) Neeraj Chopra winning gold in the (2020 Tokyo) Olympics,” added Mandhana.

“So, definitely you know we have an opportunity to be there and try and do that, of course, not in the Olympics but at the Commonwealth Games. So we are all really excited and we know the groups (opponents). The groups were decided long back so we have our plans in place for Australia, Pakistan and Barbados. Hopefully, things work the way we have planned,” she added.

Cricket has featured solely as soon as earlier than on the Commonwealth Games — as a 16-team event on the lads’s aspect — on the Kuala Lumpur Games, again in 1998.

South Africa claimed gold by beating Australia within the last, chasing down a goal of 184 after Shaun Pollock’s 4/19 (9 overs). Mike Rindel top-scored with 67 (106 balls), with Jacques Kallis’ 44 making certain victory. In the bronze-medal match, Chris Harris was essential with each bat and ball, joint top-scoring with an unbeaten 56 earlier than taking 2/20 (7.4) in a 51-run victory.

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