Three players including Kashvee Gautam, Shree Charani and Shuchi Upadhyay have received maiden call-ups for the ODI tri-series against Sri Lanka and South Africa starting on April 27 in Colombo.
Kashvee Gautam who picked 11 wickets in the recently concluded WPL season, has been one of the notable inclusions in the squad. Gautam also can hit aggressively in the low order, which only strengthened her path to a maiden national call-up.
Meanwhile, N Shree Charani and Shuchi Upadhyay, the latter who was the Player of the Tournament at last year’s Senior Women’s One-Day Trophy are the new additions to the squad.
The series marks the return of regular skipper Harmanpreet Kaur who was rested for the home series against Ireland.
However, fast bowlers Renuka Singh, Titas Sadhu and Pooja Vastrakar and top order batter Shafali Verma who continues to be overlooked. Verma was the highest run getter among Indians with 304 runs at a strike rate of 152.76 and even performed well in Domestic cricket.
“Renuka Singh Thakur & Titas Sadhu are injured and were not considered for the selection,” a BCCI statement said.
Meanwhile Sneh Rana who was signed as a replacement player by RCB, Amanjot Kaur and Arundhati Reddy also returned to the squad.
Prateeka Rawal, who had done well in a couple of series before the WPL is likely to accompany the VC Smriti Mandhana at the top while the usual suspects Haleen Deol, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues and Richas Ghosh will form the middle order, followed by Deepti Sharma.
The tri nation series will begin on April 27 with the hosts Sri Lanka on India in the opener while the finals will be played on May 11.
India squad for Women’s Tri-series: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (WK), Yastika Bhatia (WK), Deepti Sharma, Amanjot Kaur, Kashvee Gautam, Sneh Rana, Arundhati Reddy, Tejal Hasabnis, N Sree Charani, Shuchi Upadhyay
