A 21-member Indian women's cricket team has been announced for 7 international matches on the England tour. As before, the command of the Test and ODI team has been handed over to Mithali Raj. At the same time, the command of the ODI team has been given to Harmanpreet Kaur. 17-year-old young batsman Shefali Verma has been included in the ODI and Test team for the first time. At the same time, 27-year-old Sneh Rana has returned to the team after 5 years. She played her last match in February 2016.
India have to play 1 Test, 3 ODIs and 3 T20 matches from 16 June to 15 July on the England tour. Left arm spinner Rajeshwari Gaikwad has not got a place. They are believed to be infected with corona.
Sources said BCCI President Sourav Ganguly and Secretary Jai Shah were present along with the selectors and coach Ramesh Powar in the virtual meeting held for the selection of the women's team. Powar was re-appointed the day before. Powar had to step down last time due to a rift with Mithali Raj.
The Indian women's team will play Test matches for the first time since November 2014. In 2014, the women's team played a Test match against South Africa. That time too, the Indian team was able to play two Tests after 8 years. In other words, the Indian women's team has played only two Test matches in about 15 years. Only 8 players of the team selected, captain Mithali Raj, vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur, Poonam Raut, Jhulan Goswami, Smriti Mandhana, Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav and Ekta Bisht have played a Test match before.
Jharkhand wicketkeeper batsman Indrani Roy is the new face in the team. Indrani had performed brilliantly in the domestic one-day tournament played in March-April. He scored 456 runs at an average of 76 and a strike rate of 86.52. Indrani was the only batsman to score more than 400 runs this season. He scored a century (103 not out) against Chhattisgarh. At the same time, he had played an excellent innings of 86 against Karnataka.
Seam bowling all-rounder Shikha Pandey, left arm spinner Ekta Bisht and wicketkeeper batsman Tania Bhatia have returned to the team. He did not get a place in the team for the domestic ODI and T20 series against South Africa.
Tests and ODIs: Mithali Raj (captain), Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-captain), Smriti Mandhana, Poonam Raut, Priya Punia, Deepti Sharma, Jemima Rodriguez, Shefali Verma, Sneh Rana, Tania Bhatia (wicketkeeper), Indrani Roy (wicketkeeper), Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht and Radha Yadav.
T20 team: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandana (vice-captain), Deepti Sharma, Jemima Rodriguez, Shefali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Harleen Deol, Sneh Rana, Tania Bhatia (wicketkeeper), Indrani Roy (wicketkeeper), Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav and Simran Dil Bahadur.
Like and Follow us on :
