Cricket at the Olympics would be amazing: Smriti Mandhana after Indian women’s cricket team wins gold in Asian Games

India defeated Sri Lanka in the final by 19 runs to clinch gold medal in the Hangzhou Asian Games.

The Indian women's cricket team on Monday (September 25) created history as it defeated Sri Lanka in the final of the Hangzhou Asian Games to clinch the gold medal.

Opting to bat first on a sluggish track, the Women in Blue posted a below-par 116/7 in their allotted 20 overs. Opener Smriti Mandhana was the top scorer with 45-ball 46 while Jemimah Rodrigues made a vital contribution of 40-ball 42 batting at No. 3.

Defending the total, India restricted Sri Lanka to 97/8 in 20 overs to win the match by 19 runs. Young pacer Titas Sadhu starred with the ball as she recorded excellent figures of 3 for 6 in her four overs. Rajeshwari Gayakwad (2-20), Pooja Vastrakar (1-20), Deepti Sharma (1-25) and Devika Vaidya (1-15) shared five scalps among them.

As the Indian women won the country’s first-ever gold medal in cricket at the Asian Games, Mandhana expressed her delight.

“It feels pretty special to contribute to the Indian tally of medals, because we don’t get to do that a lot as cricketers. Of course the Commonwealth Games (Birmingham 2022) were pretty special too. Just being part of the whole Indian contingent just feels different,” Mandhana said, as quoted by The Indian Express.

She further added that cricket’s inclusion in the Olympics will bring the same excitement as the World Cup.

“As cricketers, we watch a lot of Olympic sports and follow all the athletes that win medals for us (India). We could experience that a little today when the national anthem played, which was a special moment because we don’t get to experience that a lot despite being athletes. It would be amazing if it (cricket at the Olympics) happened, because we would look forward to it as much as a World Cup,” Mandhana stated.

Notably, the International Cricket Council (ICC) is working towards cricket’s participation in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

In July this year, ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice said that the governing body is actively pursuing the inclusion of T20 cricket in Olympics.

"The Olympics want to stage a format that has its World Championship. Given that, we will be proposing the shortest format for Olympic inclusion -- that would be T20 cricket," said Allardice in a media round table on the sidelines of the Board meeting in Durban.

(The Indian Express Inputs)