India batter Sabbhineni Meghana is all set to join the women’s T20 squad for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham ahead of their first group match against Australia on Friday.
On Thursday, after recovering from Covid-19 and coming out of quarantine, Meghana posted a story on her official Instagram account of the boarding pass of her flight to Birmingham, indicating that she is on her way to join the Indian team for the multi-nation event. It remains to be seen if she will be included in the playing eleven for Friday’s match.
Earlier, just a day after the team led by Harmanpreet Kaur left for Birmingham to participate in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, it was brought to the light that Meghana and all-rounder Pooja were left behind in Bengaluru after testing positive for Covid-19 and serving their isolation period.
But now with Meghana leaving for Birmingham at the earliest, it means that Pooja will miss the first group match for India against Australia at Edgbaston and could also miss out on Sunday’s second group match against Pakistan.
She will also need to pass the fitness test and return two negative Covid-19 results to be given the all-clear to join the Indian team for their last group match against Barbados on Wednesday.
T20 women’s cricket is making its Commonwealth Games debut at Birmingham, and it will be only the second time the sport has been included in the event, following the men’s 50-overs tournament in the 1998 Games held in Kuala Lumpur.
India are in Group A of the women’s T20 event alongside Australia, Pakistan and Barbados. Group B features hosts England, South Africa, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. The top two teams from the respective pools will progress to the semifinals.
India squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Shafali Verma, S. Meghana, Taniya Sapna Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Yastika Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Radha Yadav, Harleen Deol, Sneh Rana.
Standbys: Simran Dil Bahadur, Richa Ghosh and Poonam Yadav.
