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There is a lot of excitement among the Indian fans with regards to the upcoming Commonwealth Games which will be played in Birmingham. While much of it is due to the fact that Indian athletes tasted remarkable success in the Olympic and the Paralympic Games in Tokyo last year, another thing has captured the imagination of the Indian fans. It is a fact that Women's Cricket has been included in the competition this year.
And now the sport of cricket has become the first discipline to announce its complete line-up for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. The development took place after Sri Lanka was confirmed as the eighth team in the women's T20 tournament. The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed the same on Tuesday.
"It’s good to have finalised the identity of the teams participating in the Commonwealth Games, and congratulations to Sri Lanka for making it after playing so well in the qualifier," said Geoff Allardice, the ICC Chief Executive in an official release.
"We will have eight of the best teams competing for the gold and I am sure we will get to watch a highly competitive tournament," he added.
"The Commonwealth Games are an important part of the women’s cricket calendar over the next year. It is a huge opportunity for us to take cricket beyond the traditional strongholds and give more people around the world the chance to enjoy the game, whilst the players are very much looking forward to being part of multi-sport games," he further said.
Notably, this will only be the second time that cricket will feature in the quadrennial event. The last time the sport was part of the Games was way back in 1998 in the Kuala Lumpur Games. At that time, it was the men's team that battled it out and South Africa had bagged the gold with Shaun Pollock leading the Proteas. They had got the better of Steve Waugh-led Australia by 4 wickets in the final.
Apart from ICC, the Commonwealth Games Federation president Dame Louise Martin was also pleased with the development and was in particular praise for Sri Lanka.
"Congratulations to the eight outstanding teams who have qualified for the women’s T20 cricket tournament at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games," she stated as per the release.
“I must pay particular tribute to Sri Lanka, who secured the eighth and final spot by winning such an exciting qualifying tournament in Malaysia last week," she added.
Australia, Barbados, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan South Africa and Sri Lanka are the eight teams that will feature in the competition. The much-anticipated India vs Pakistan clash is set to happen on Sunday, 31 July 2022.