India will aim for gold at CWG: Smriti

Birmingham : India women’s cricket team vice-captain Smriti Mandhana has said her side will not just be aiming for a podium finish at the Commonwealth Games here, and that the aim was to win gold at the quadrennial showpiece beginning on July 29. Cricket is returing to CWG for the first time in 24 years, with the first women’s tournament to be played out at the multi-sport event. Eight sides will take part across 16 matches at Edgbaston, with a winner crowned and all the medals finalised on August 7 India are in Group A along with Australia, Barbados and Pakistan, while Group B has hosts England, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka. India will play their opening game against Meg Lanning’s Australia on July 29. India will play arch-rivals Pakistan on July 31. “All the girls are really excited and we all know the feeling. We have all watched the Commonwealth and Olympic Games… that when the Indian flag goes up and we hear the national anthem, I think everyone knows that feeling and definitely we are aiming for gold,” said Mandhana in a video posted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).