The Indian national selectors for women’s cricket named the 15 member squad for the 3 match ODI series and the 5 match T20I series India will play in Sri Lanka from 11th September. The Indian colts will play the ODI series under the ICC Women’s championship while the 5 matches T20I series will be a bilateral one. Mithali Raj will captain the ODI team while Harmanpreet Kaur will be in charge of the T20I team.
Jhulan Goswami announced retirement from T20I cricket
Jhulan Goswami recently announced her retirement from international T20 cricket. Hence was not picked in the T20I squad. However, she was part of the 15 members OID squad for the 3 match series. Harmanpreet Kaur will be Mithali Raj’s deputy in the 50 overs format while Smriti Mandhan who will be the vice-captain in the T20I’s. Mithali Raj is part of the T20I squad.
Tanya Bhatia has been elected as the wicket-keeper in both the formats. Jhulan Goswami, Mansi Joshi and Shikha Pandey will take charge of the pace bowling department, There are several stalwart batswomen in the team. Mithali Raj on his day can make any bowling attack toy for long hours. Harmanpreet Kaur is more of an attacking option and she really packs a punch.
She has the ability to hit the big shots on a consistent basis. It was quite evident during the ICC Women’s World Cup semi-final against Australia. She scored a sensational 171 which stormed India to the final. Punam Raut and Smriti Mandhana will be the opening the openings. Deepti Sharma will be the all-rounder in the team while Rajeshwadi Gaekwad might be the other spinner in the team.
In place of Jhulan Goswami, Arundhati Reddy has been named in the T20I squad. The Indian colts will definitely start as favourites. They will look to win the series by convincing margins. Sri Lanka doesn’t have a strong all-round team and might be found wanting in front of the runners-up of World Cup. Hence India will look to win both the series.
ODI squad
Mithali Raj (captain), Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-captain), Smirti Mandhana, Punam Raut, Deepti Sharma, D Hemalatha, Jemimah Rodrigues, Veda Krishnamurthy, Tanya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Ekta Bisht, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gaekwad, Jhulan Goswami, Mansi Joshi, Shikha Pandey
T20I squad
Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Mithali Raj, Veda Krishnamurthy, Jemimah Rodriguez, D. Hemlata, Deepti Sharma, Anuja Patil, Tanya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav, Arundhati Reddy, Shikha Pandey, Mansi Joshi