India will begin their ICC Women’s World Cup 2022 campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on March 6. The selectors have dropped Jemimah Rodrigues and Shikha Pandey owing to poor form.
Mithali Raj will lead the 15-member India squad in the upcoming ICC Women’s World Cup, the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on Thursday. The same squad will play a five-match ODI series against New Zealand as a preparation for the mega event. (More Cricket News)
India begin their ICC Women’s World Cup campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on March 6 at the Bay Oval, Tauranga. The five-match ODI series against the White Ferns is scheduled to start on February 11. The BCCI women’s selection committee also selected a squad for a one-off T20 international against New Zealand to be played on February 9.
Star batter Jemimah Rodrigues and pacer Shikha Pandey have been dropped from the squad due to lack of form. The right-handed Jemimah Rodrigues failed to hit the double-figure mark during the last year in all the international assignments she was a part of. Pandey has been similarly off colour.
Meanwhile, the trio of Renuka Singh, Meghna Singh and Yastika Bhatia have been awarded for the performances in the national colours last year against Australia. Renuka, particularly, opened the bowling alongside veteran Jhulan Goswami and earned a lot of praise.
She is yet to play an ODI, but her combination with Goswami in the tour Down Under might have prompted the selectors to pick her up ahead of Pandey. Similarly, Yastika good show with the bat against Australia was the reason to pick her ahead of Jemimah.
Yastika caught the eye of everyone when she scored her maiden ODI fifty helping India win against Australia, chasing 265.
India squad for 5 ODIs against NZ and ICC Women’s World Cup: Mithali Raj (Captain), Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-captain), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wicket-keeper), Sneh Rana, Jhulan Goswami, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh Thakur, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav.
Standby Players: Sabbhineni Meghana, Ekta Bisht, Simran Dil Bahadur.
India women’s squad for one-off T20I: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wicket-keeper), Sneh Rana, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh Thakur, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, S. Meghna, Simran Dil Bahadur.
India’s schedule in ICC Women’s World Cup 2022
Vs Pakistan - March 6th, Bay Oval, Tauranga
Vs New Zealand - March 10th, Seddon Park, Hamilton
Vs West Indies - March 12th, Seddon Park, Hamilton
Vs England, March 16th, Bay Oval, Tauranga
Vs Australia - March 19th, Eden Park, Auckland
Vs Bangladesh, March 22nd - Seddon Park, Hamilton
Vs South Africa, March 27th - Hagley Oval, Christchurch
Indian women's complete schedule against New Zealand
Only T20I - February 9th, McLean Park, Napier
1st ODI - February 11th, McLean Park, Napier
2nd ODI - February 14th, Saxton Oval, Nelson
3rd ODI - February 16th, Saxton Oval, Nelson
4th ODI - February 22nd, John Davies Oval, Queenstown
5th ODI - February 24th, John Davies Oval, Queenstown