New Delhi: Veteran Mithali Raj’s retirement from the T20 format Thursday paved the way for the induction of youngsters such as 15-year-old rookie Shafali Verma in the Indian women’s cricket team for the upcoming home series against South Africa.
Shafali Varma was picked following her good performance in the Women’s T20 challenge earlier and at the age-group level this year. The diminutive Haryana-girl played under Mithali Raj for ‘Team Velocity’ in the women’s T20 challenge which was played during the IPL earlier this year.
Mithali Raj, however, will continue to lead the team in the three-match ODI series, which will follow the five T20 Internationals, where Harmanpreet Kaur will captain. Smriti Mandhana will be Harmanpreet Kaur’s deputy in the T20 series.
The selection committee meeting held at the BCCI headquarters Thursday was attended by Mithali while T20I captain Harmanpreet kaur and coach WV Raman connected via teleconference.
The Indian team will conduct a preparatory camp at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, starting September 12.
The ODI series begins in Surat September 24.
ODI squad: Mithali Raj (captain), Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-captain), Punam Raut, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Mansi Joshi, Ekta Bisht, Poonam Yadav, D Hemalatha, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Priya Punia.
Squad for first 3 T20I: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Poonam Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Arundhati Reddy, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Veda Krishnamurthy, Harleen Deol, Anuja Patil, Shafali Verma and Mansi Joshi.
PTI
