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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on Wednesday, announced the Women’s squad for the upcoming tri-series in South Africa and the much-awaited ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023.
Veteran pace bowler Shikha Pandey has returned to the Indian squad for the global showpiece event in South Africa. Pandey has not appeared for the Women in Blue in more than a year, with her last appearance coming in October 2021. She didn’t get a call-up in the recently-concluded Australia series.
Ahead of the battle against the Aussies, Pandey played four games in the T20 Challenger Trophy and picked up only two wickets. But her inclusion is anyway good news for Team India as she adds experience to the pace attack that features the likes of Renuka Thakur, who debuted last year and newcomer Anjali Sarvani.
The rest of the squad feature familiar faces, as most of the players who recently played against Australia at home, have been picked. However, allrounder Pooja Vastrakar‘s inclusion will be subject to fitness after she was ruled out of the Australia T20Is with an injury.
Notably, the Women’s T20 World Cup is set to start on February 10 next year. Team India, who are placed in Group 2 with England, Pakistan, West Indies and Ireland, will begin their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan in Cape Town on February 12. The top two teams in each group at the end of the group stage will go into the semi-finals. The final is scheduled to be held in Cape Town on February 26.
Prior to the World Cup, India will play a tri-series tournament starting January 19. The likes of Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh will not be available for this series due to their participation in the Under-19 Women’s World Cup. As a result, Sushma Verma and Amanjot Kaur have been added to the squad.
India Squad for the tri-series:
Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), 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
India’s T20 World Cup Squad:
Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), 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
