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Virat Kohli-Indian Women's Team (Image source- Twitter)
Former India captain Virat Kohli wished the national women's cricket team well ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022. The International Cricket Council (ICC) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) successfully fought for the inclusion of women's cricket in the Commonwealth Games. This will be the debut of women's cricket in the CWG.
The tournament will be contested in the T20I format and will take place from July 29 to August 7. Although this will be the first time women cricketers will compete in the Games, the sport has previously appeared at the Games, when a List A men's 50-over event was staged during the 1998 edition in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. South Africa emerged victorious in the event.
"My best wishes to the Indian women's cricket team and all our athletes participating in the Commonwealth Games," Kohli tweeted.
Here is Virat Kohli's tweet
My best wishes to the Indian women's cricket team and all our athletes participating in the Commonwealth Games. 🇮🇳🙌
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) July 28, 2022
The Women in Blue have been allocated to Group A, which includes Australia, Pakistan, and Barbados. On July 29, the Indian women's cricket team will face the defending world champions Australia at Edgbaston Cricket Ground. They will then face arch-rivals Pakistan in their second encounter.
"I think we have always done better whenever we have gotten a chance to play against them (Australia). This time things are looking really positive, we will try to do our best," Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur ahead of the first match.
"For us all the teams are important. Winning all the games is important when you are playing a tournament like this. The first game is always important because you have to set the tone for the team. We have made plans for all teams, it is about taking one game at a time," she added.
Two Indian players, S. Meghana and Pooja Vastrakar, tested positive for Covid-19 ahead of their CWG campaign. While Meghana has reportedly joined the Indian squad in Birmingham, Vastrakar remains isolated in Bangalore and is certain to miss the first two group-stage matches against Australia and Pakistan.