The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have named their 15-member squad for the upcoming ICC Women World Twenty20 in the Caribbean Islands.
Meanwhile, they have dropped experienced fast bowler Shikha Pandey for the mega event. Seam-bowling all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar will make her national comeback, after missing the recently-concluded limited-overs series against Sri Lanka due to an ankle injury.
Furthermore, this is the only change to the squad that played the five-match T20I series against Sri Lanka. Shikha Pandey didn’t feature in any of the T20I games and also played only one ODIs. The management preferred youngsters, Arundhati Reddy, and Mansi Joshi, who have done a good job.
Reddy, in fact, made her debut in the same series and impressed the selectors with her variations. As a result, she retained her spot in the side for the multi-nation event. Joshi, on the other hand, got the ‘Bowler of the ODI Series’ in what was her national comeback.
India will also be without the services of veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami. The tall and lanky pacer from Bengal recently announced her retirement from the T20 format.
Furthermore, this will be the first ICC event as captain for Harmanpreet Kaur, who experimented with the batting order to test out a few players in Sri Lanka. Star batsman Smriti Mandhana could manage only a total of 11 runs in four innings. However, given her Player of the Tournament exploits in the Kia Super League, India will pin their hopes on her.
India squad for ICC Women World T20:
Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Mithali Raj, Jemimah Rodrigues, Veda Krishnamurthy, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (WK), Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Anuja Patil, Ekta Bisht, D Hemalatha, Mansi Joshi, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy