"Definitely, we will get the gold medal in the Asian Games" - Rajeshwari Gayakwad confident of India's success 

Indian left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad is confident that the Women in Blue will win the gold medal at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou. Harmanpreet Kaur and Co. had to settle for silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham after losing to Australia in the final.

India made it to the semi-finals of the 2023 Women's T20 World Cup in South Africa as well, but are still facing issues with clearing the final hurdle. India have a realistic chance of winning the gold medal after securing a direct spot in the quarterfinals on the back of their ICC ranking.

The 32-year-old was last seen during the Women's Premier League (WPL), representing the UP Warriorz. She missed out on the recently concluded Bangladesh tour due to injury.

In an interview with PTI, she spoke about India's chances at the Asian Games as well as her injury.

"Definitely, we will get the gold medal in the Asian Games. We have played against all major opponents in the past, but not to dwell on that much, we have the trust in our team that we are capable of winning and clinching the gold medal," she said.

"I was in rehabilitation and on rest during the Bangladesh tour; it was not the case of me being dropped," Gayakwad continued.

The 2023 Asian Games will take place from September 23 to October 8 in Hangzhou. The event was initially slated to take place last year but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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"The WPL is a big thing for Indian cricket because it challenges us to take our cricket more seriously" - Rajeshwari Gayakwad

The spinner is currently involved in an off-season camp by the UP Warriorz for Indian players of the franchise. The team finished third in the inaugural season, losing out to eventual champions Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Eliminator.

The first edition of the WPL was a success across all fronts and Gayakwad mentioned that it has urged women cricketers to take the sport much more seriously now due to the new perks it brings with it.

"We have done some great work in the camp. We did not need to work on any specific areas but spoke about improving in those areas where we could have done better and focused only on that. The WPL is a big thing for Indian cricket because it challenges us to take our cricket more seriously and we can improve more because there were not many opportunities in terms of match-time for us," Gayakwad said.

There has been talk about switching the WPL over to the Diwali window in the near future. The 2023 edition was conducted before the Indian Premier League (IPL).