India women's team will get the gold medal in the Asian Games: Rajeshwari Gayakwad

Indian left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad believes that the Women in Blue can win the gold medal in the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China which is scheduled to be contested in September. Notably, the Indian women's team failed to win the gold during their debut in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, falling short of Australia in the summit clash.

Gayakwad stated that the team is confident that they would be able to win a gold medal. Notably, India women have acquired a direct qualification for the quarterfinals of the upcoming Asian Games, thanks to their ICC T20I rankings.

"Definitely, we will get the gold medal in the Asian Games. We have played against all major opponents in the past, but not to dwell on that much, we have the trust in our team that we are capable of winning and clinching the gold medal," Gayakwad was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times. 

The 32-year-old was not part of India's tour of Bangladesh due to injury, where the Harmanpreet-led side won the T20I series 2-1 and levelled the ODI series 1-1. She has played two Tests, 64 ODIs, and 55 T20Is for India, thus far. The spinner is currently in an off-season camp for Indian players of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) side UP Warriorz in Bengaluru.

"I was in rehabilitation and on rest during the Bangladesh tour; it was not the case of me being dropped. We have done some great work in the camp. We did not need to work on any specific areas but spoke about improving in those areas where we could have done better and focused only on that.

"The focus has been on the overall game — from fielding to batting and bowling. The batters, though, tried to work on their stroke-making in particular," she added.

WPL challenges us to take our cricket more seriously: Gayakwad

According to Rajeshwari Gayakwad, the Women's Premier League (WPL) pushes the Indian women's team to take the game more seriously.  

"The WPL is a big thing for Indian cricket because it challenges us to take our cricket more seriously and we can improve more because there were not many opportunities in terms of match-time for us. Playing for the Indian team directly from the domestic set-up was the only option, but going forward, there will be more matches which will only result in the betterment of women's cricket in India," Gayakwad added.

While speaking about what she learned by sharing the dressing room with some of the prominent names in women's cricket, the 32-year-old stated that it is their thought process.

"The one thing we learn from overseas players is their thought process, like how do they prepare themselves before a match. Frankly speaking, I do not think about it. The idea is to take it one match at a time. I have not thought about getting here or there," she concluded.