(Cricket news) India Women have announced the squad for the Women’s T20 World Cup and the tri series against South Africa and West Indies. The last series against Australia was a disappointing 4-1 loss. India women have a golden opportunity to play a multi nation tournament in the host country just before the World Cup. The women in blue still need a couple of answers regarding team combination and personnel. Harmanpreet Kaur and the management will be hoping to solve the problems to give them the best chance of finally winning an ICC trophy.
India Women’s squad for the T20 World Cup:
Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (Vice-Captain), Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Richa Ghosh (wk) Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Radha Yadav, Renuka Thakur, Anjali Sarvani, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shikha Pandey
Reserves: Sabbhineni Meghana, Sneh Rana, Meghna Singh
India Women’s squad for Tri-series:
Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (Vice Captain), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Radha Yadav, Renuka Thakur, Meghna Singh, Anjali Sarvani, Shushma Verma (wk), Amanjot Kaur, Pooja Vastrakar, Sabbhineni Meghana, Sneh Rana, Shikha Pandey
Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh who are in the World Cup squad will not be playing the tri series as it clashes with the Under 19 World Cup where the pair will be representing India. Amanjot Kaur and Sushma Verma are in the squad just for the tri series. This is the maiden International call-up for Amanjot while Verma is returning to the Indian T20 side for the first time since 2016. Surprisingly Tania Bhatia who played the Commonwealth Games final a couple of months ago wasn’t considered.
The big news is that Shikha Pandey is back in the side. The seamer was dropped after the tour of Australia last year but consistent domestic performances have forced the selectors to call her back. The surprising part is the fact that it took the selectors this long to call her back when it has been clear for a long time that she was needed. It is a similar situation with what happened in the Indian men’s team with Mohammed Shami and Ravichandran Ashwin.
S Meghana and Meghna Singh have been dropped to the reserves for the World Cup which was expected. Sneh Rana returns to the set-up but only in the reserves. Devika Vaidya and Anjali Sarvani who played in the Australia series have both kept their places. There is still no place in the squad for Poonam Yadav, Dayalan Hemalata and KP Navgire. The India Women squad looks very balanced as a whole but the captain and the management need to find the best combination and XI which is what the tri series is for.
Also read: Big controversial calls in India’s ODI squad for the Sri Lanka series
