Akash Deep, Pooja Vastrakar replace Shivam Mavi, Anjali Sarvani in Indian squads for Asian Games 2022

The Board of Control for Cricket in India, in an official release, announced the national squads for both men and women cricket teams that will compete in the Asian Games 2022 in Hangzhou. While the first team are busy preparing for the upcoming ODI World Cup, a second-string squad has been selected. Whereas for the women's team, a full-strength squad under the leadership of Harmanpreet Kaur was picked.

Speaking of the squads, many youngsters who have performed well in the domestic circuit have been rewarded for their efforts to represent their country on an international stage. Star opener Ruturaj Gaikwad will be seen donning the captain's hat for the men's team, whereas some injured and unavailable players could not make it to the squad. In addition to the 15-member squad, the cricket board has announced four standby players.

For the women's team, players like Harleen Deol, Saika Ishaque, Kashvee Gautam and Sneh Rana have been announced as backups, while Yash Thakur, Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, and Sai Sudharsan will travel with the men's team as reserves. 

Ace pacer Pooja Vastrakar has been announced as a replacement for an injured Anjali Sarvani. For the men's team, Shivam Mavi was expected to lead the bowling unit; however, suffering from a back injury, he has been ruled out of the tournament.

More or less, the squads announced earlier remain the same. However, only the injured and unavailable players have been replaced by befitting replacements. Speaking more about the competition, the men's competition is scheduled from September 28 to October 8, whereas the women's competition is scheduled between September 19 and 28.

Notably, the tournament will be played in T20I format and will have international recognition, as per ICC's norms.

Here are Indian Men's and Women's squads for the Asian Games 2022:

Men's squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Shivam Dube, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Akash Deep.

Reserves: Yash Thakur, Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Sai Sudharsan

Women's squad: 

Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Amanjot Kaur, Devika Vaidya, Titas Sadhu, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Minnu Mani, Kanika Ahuja, Uma Chetry (wk), Anusha Bareddy, Pooja Vastrakar.

Reserves: Harleen Deol, Kashvee Gautam, Sneh Rana, Saika Ishaque