With the official start of the Asian Games, Indian players have declared their claims on many medals. On the first day, players won five medals for the country. On the second day, India's first and Indian women's cricket team's second gold medal was achieved in the Asian Games. And won the gold medal by defeating Sri Lanka in the final match. Let us know about the women players of Team India who have brought glory to India and created history in the Asian Games.
These are the women cricketers of Team India who played in the final.
Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (Vice-Captain), Shefali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (WK), Amanjot Kaur, Devika Vaidya, Titas Sadhu, Rajeshwari Gaikwad, Pooja Vastrakar.
Harmanpreet Kaur
Indian team's regular captain Harmanpreet Kaur returned to the Asian Games. Before this, she could not play in the matches against Malaysia and Bangladesh. Harmanpreet Kaur is the first Indian to win the Player of the Tournament award in the Women's Big Bash League. Before the Asian Games, she had also been the captain of the women's T20 and One Day cricket team. Born on 8 March 1989 in Moga district of Punjab, Harmanpreet formally made her debut in cricket at the age of 20 and played a match against Pakistan Women's Cricket Arc Rivals in 2009. In the same year, she also got a chance to play in the Women's Cricket World Cup.
Smriti Mandhana
Smriti Mandhana is the first Indian female cricketer to score a century in a pink ball test match. Smriti Mandhana, primarily a left-handed batsman, scored two centuries in the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup. Born on 18 July 1996 in Mumbai, Mandhana was selected for the Under-19 team at the age of just 11 years. In 2016, Smriti Mandhana scored three half-centuries while playing for India Red in the Women's Challenger Trophy. He started his international career by playing an ODI match against Bangladesh.
Shefali Verma
Shefali Verma, who made her cricket debut at the age of 15, was involved in the Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup and contributed to India's victory. In this tournament, the command of Team India was in the hands of Shefali Verma. Right-handed batsman Shefali also shows an amazing off-spin. Born on 28 January 2004 in the small Rohtak district of Haryana, Shefali was fond of playing cricket since childhood, due to which Shefali Verma registered her name as the youngest female cricketer in the international team.
Jemima Rodrigues
Jemimah Rodrigues, born in Mumbai on 5 September 2000, started playing cricket at the age of just 4 years. In the early days of his career, he played both cricket and hockey. However, he later took up cricket as a career. In the Women's Premier League, Delhi Capitals bought all-rounder batsman Jemimah Rodrigues for Rs 2.2 crore. Jemima was honored with the "Jagmohan Dalmia" award for the best domestic junior female cricketer.
Deepti Sharma
Deepti Sharma, who played cricket with her brother at the age of 6, has been the second most expensive player in the Women's Premier League. Former cricketer Hemlata Kala trained him and taught him the nuances of the game. Deepti Sharma made her Test cricket debut in 2021 against England. Made his ODI debut against South Africa in 2014. Deepti, who played T20 in 2016, was awarded the Jagmohan Dalia Trophy by BCCI for the best domestic women's cricket. He has also been honored with the Arjuna Award.
Richa Ghosh (wicketkeeper)
Richa Ghosh performed brilliantly in the Asian Games as the wicket-keeper batsman of the Indian women's cricket team. His father has been an umpire in cricket matches. In such a situation, Richa Mahach used to go to the cricket field with her father since the age of 3 years. Richa Ghosh, born on 28 September 2003 in Siliguri, West Bengal, was selected for Under 19. Later also played in the Bengal Under 23 team. In 2018, at the age of just 13, he received the Bengal Player of the Year award. Later, at the age of 16, Richa was selected for the Indian women's cricket team. Made his T20 debut against Australia in 2020 and his ODI debut in 2021.
Amanjot Kaur
23 year old Amarjot Kaur is a right handed batsman. He is also capable of bowling. Amanjot Kaur, born in Mohali in 2000, made her T20 debut. Due to his explosive performance in his very first match, he received the 'Man of the Match' award. Amanjot Kaur played for Mumbai Indians in the Women's Premier League.
Devika Vaidya
Devika Vaidya, originally from Pune district of Maharashtra, was born on 13 August 1997. Left-handed batsman Devika made her international cricket debut in November 2016 against West Indies in Vijayawada. Devika played 9 ODI matches, in which she excelled in bowling.
Titas sadhu
This was the second match of the career of the Indian team's star player Titas Sadhu, who won the final match against Sri Lanka in the Asian Games and claimed the gold medal. His first match was against Bangladesh in the semi-finals of the Asian Games. With this, he left an impression of his sharp bowling in the second international match of his career. Jhulan Goswami, born in Chinsura, West Bengal, saw the speed and swing of Titas and talked to Bengal women's team coach Shiv Shankar Paul and asked him to play in the senior team. Titas was just 16 years old then.
Rajeshwari Gaikwad
Rajeshwari Gaikwad, famously known as the uncrowned queen of the Indian women's cricket team, took 5 wickets for just 15 runs against the New Zealand women's cricket team in the Women's World Cup 2017. Due to his excellent bowling, he is currently counted among the best players of Team India.
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