BCCI announces Indian women's Asia Cup squad; Jemimah Rodrigues returns

BCCI announced the Indian squad for the upcoming Women’s Asia Cup which is slated to be played from the 15th of October. The tournament will be played in the T20I format and will be convened in Bangladesh. Much to India’s batting reprieve, a fit-again Jemimah Rodriguez would be coming back into the squad after missing out on the English tour. A wrist injury had forced Rodrigues to sit out while the Indian women breed hell in England.

Rodrigues is the solitary tweak to the Indian squad that was pipped 2-1 in the T20I series by England after a failed batting display in the decider, leaving the Women in Blue in shambles. Richa Ghosh who pulled off an incredible display with the willow in her hand was retained in the squad.

However, the inclusion of Richa Ghosh meant that Taniya Bhatia who was the first choice-keeper in the Commonwealth Games couldn’t bag a single contest against England and has been moved to the standby list for the upcoming continental extravaganza alongside Simran Bahadur.

Debutant in the English series, Kiran Prabhu Navgire, was given another opportunity to showcase her strength after a good series against England while Meghna and Renuka Singh were shouldered with the onus of leading the pace attack for the Women in Blue. Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Radha Yadav will be India’s too frontline spinners while the presence of Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, and Pooja Vastrakar will be the all-rounders augmenting variety to the Indian attack.

The Asia Cup for women will be returning after a four-year hiatus and the seven teams who will be a part of the fray will be contesting each other in a round-robin format before the top four teams qualify for the knockouts.

India squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, S Meghana, Richa Ghosh (wk), Sneh Rana, Dayalan Hemalatha, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Radha Yadav, Kiran Navgire. Standby players: Taniya Bhatia, Simran Bahadur