Firstpost Spodcast Episode 155: Oceania countries invited for 2022 Asian Games; England beat India in women's T20I and more

Welcome to the 155th episode of Firstpost Spodcast.

We being with cricket news. India suffered a crushing 41-run loss to England in the first T20 of the three-match series on Monday with Smriti Mandhana making a forgettable captaincy debut.

India struggled to 119 for six after Tammy Beaumont (62 off 57) and skipper Heather Knight (40 off 20) steered England to 160 for four in 20 overs.

The loss, India’s fifth in a row in the shortest format, showed the W V Raman-coached side has a lot of work to do before the T20 World Cup in Australia early next year.

Staying with cricket, BCCI secretary Amitabh Choudhary on Monday said that the ICC has been in constant touch with the Indian board, and have stated that boycotting any country from where terror emanates is not within their domain.

“ICC Chairman, after discussing with the with the board, has conveyed to us that boycotting any country from where terror emanates is not within the domain of ICC,” Choudhary said.

There has been a huge outcry in the country urging India not to play against Pakistan in the World Cup after a terror attack in Kashmir’s Pulwama on 14 February.

In other big news, The United World Wrestling (UWW) has asked all the national federations under it to stop communication with the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) in the wake of visa denial of Pakistani shooters in the recent World Cup. However, there was some good news for countries from Oceania as Oceania nations, including sporting powerhouse Australia, have been invited to compete in Olympic team events such as football and basketball at the 2022 Asian Games for the first time.

Football news to end the spodcast, Shillong Lajong were relegated from the I-League on Monday after they suffered a 1-4 defeat at the hands of former champions Aizawl FC in their penultimate round match.