Hi there! Welcome to Episode 224 of Never on the Backfoot Podcast. Cricket was first introduced in the Asian Games in 2010 played in Guangzhou. The Indian men’s and women’s cricket teams will also be fighting for the glorious gold medal in Hangzhou this year at the Asian Games. With the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 also being scheduled around the same time, The Board of Control for Cricket in India decided to send a second-string squad for the tournament. This will be the third time in the history of Indian cricket that two international teams will participate in two different tournaments simultaneously. Team India will be directly playing in the quarterfinals of the tournament as full-member nations are directly qualified for the knockout round and their matches commence on 3rd October. Along with India, other full member nations like Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka will all field a second-string men’s squad as they all will be taking part in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in India. They will start their campaign after the group round is done and dusted. India will be led by a young skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad. This will be his first-ever assignment as Indian captain in a big event. In this episode, we will provide you with a comprehensive overview of India’s squad, our takeaways, observations, and analysis and give you a glimpse of what to expect from the team! On the Podcast today joining us for this episode, we have Souradip Dey, an ardent cricket enthusiast. The Podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify for Podcasters, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and many other platforms and spread the word. Check out @neveronthebackfoot on Instagram & Threads and @neverontheback1 on X for the latest facts, trivia, quizzes, and terminology. 🌻