Three youngsters Kashvee Gautam, Sree Charani, and Shuchi Upadhyay received maiden call-ups in the international side as BCCI named Harmanpreet Kaur-led squad for tri-nation ODI series against Sri Lanka and South Africa.
Harmanpreet Kaur is back as the captain after sitting out the previous series against Ireland at home in January, while Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Arundhati Reddy and Amanjot Kaur have all returned to the mix.
The selection committee said Renuka Singh Thakur and Titas Sadhu were not considered for the selection as they both were injured.
Kashvee and Charani were rewarded for their WPL season. Kashvee played for Gujarat Giants and claimed 11 wickets in nine games, while Charani picked four wickets in two games, playing for Delhi Capitals.
Left-arm spinner Upadhyay, meanwhile, was the third-highest wicket-taker at the Senior Women’s One-Day Trophy held in December last year, picking up 18 wickets at an economy rate of 3.48 in nine innings for Madhya Pradesh. She was named the Player of the Tournament.
Shafali Verma has been the notable absentee despite a strong showing at the WPL, when she scored 304 runs from nine innings with a strike rate of 152.76.
The series will be played in Sri Lanka and the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo will host all the matches.
The series kicks off on April 27 when Sri Lanka takes on India. India will then face South Africa on April 29. India’s next two matches will be on May 4 and May 7 against Sri Lanka and South Africa, respectively.
Each team will play four matches each. The top two teams will qualify for the final, which will be played on May 11.
India’s squad: 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, Sree Charani, Shuchi Upadhyay.
–IANS
